17 July 2019 | Tennis Australia

Sam Stosur advanced to the last 16 of the Ladies Open Lausanne with a hard-fought 4-6 7-5 6-3 win over Barbara Haas on Tuesday, while fellow Aussies Jaimee Fourlis and Matt Ebden made progress in Bucharest and Newport respectively.

Stosur had to claw her way back after losing the first set against Haas, but was helped by her opponent’s inconsistent serve.

The 23-year-old Austrian mixed seven aces with 10 double faults and Stosur capitalised, winning seven out of 18 break points.

World No.134 Stosur will now meet Allie Kiick for a place in the quarterfinals of the claycourt event after the 24-year-old American upset tournament No.5 seed Tatjana Maria 6-1 6-0.

Jaimee Fourlis is into the second round after she defeated home crowd favourite, Irina Bara, 6-3, 7-6(6).

Her next opponent is Viktoria Kuzmova. #BRDBucharestOpen pic.twitter.com/JceqquAqCy

— BRD Bucharest Open (@BRDOpen) July 16, 2019

Top seed Julia Goerges was forced to retire against Swiss teenager Simona Waltert because of a wrist injury.

The German world No.25 had several treatments on her right forearm, but eventually was forced to concede in the deciding set, as wildcard Waltert progressed 6-7(5) 6-4 3-2.

In Bucharest, Fourlis claimed her third WTA main draw win as she saw off Romanian wildcard Irina Bara 6-3 7-6(6) on the clay – the Aussie next faces Slovakian second seed Viktoria Kuzmova in the last 16.

Ebden won his opening round match at the ATP’s Hall of Fame Open in Newport, US, but his fellow Australian Alex Bolt was eliminated.

Ebden cruised through to the first set, dropped the second but held his nerve in the decider to win through 6-1 2-6 6-3.

The win in one hour and 27 minutes earned Ebden, the world No.110, a meeting with American Denis Kudla in the round of 16 of the grasscourt event.

Australian qualifier Alex Bolt, ranked world No.150, came close to an upset win over Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik but the seventh seed survived the scare to win 6-4 2-6 7-6(4).

Fifth seed Steve Johnson was the biggest casualty on Tuesday with a shock first-round defeat by world No.188 Christopher Eubanks.