 "Hobart International: Defending champion Elise Mertens reaches quarters; Irina-Camelia Begu crashes out")
Hobart: Defending champion Elise Mertens beat Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday to advance the Hobart International quarter-finals.
Mertens came from qualifying and No 127 in the world in the 2017 Hobart event to win the title. She’ll next meet last year’s runner-up Monica Niculescu or American Varvara Lepchenko for a semi-final berth.
Mertens is the only seeded player left in her half of the draw and one of just three remaining in the tournament.
Sixth-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu and eighth-seeded Katerina Siniakova on Tuesday joined fourth-seeded Alize Cornet and No 3-seeded Sorana Cirstea as opening-round losers.
Mertens has been joined in the quarter-finals by Mihaela Muzarnescu, who beat Anna-Lena Friedsam 7-5, 6-4 in the second round.
In first-round matches, American Alison Riske beat Siniakova 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 while Niculescu defeated Begu 6-3, 6-2.
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