Mikaelian through to Tashkent quarters

Mikaelian is through to the last eight in Tashkent Keystone Archive

Rising Swiss tennis star Marie-Gaïané Mikaelian is living up to her top-seed billing at the WTA tournament in Tashkent.

Seeded number one for the first time in her professional career, the 17-year-old from Lausanne managed to book a place in the quarter-finals on Wednesday with a straight sets win (6-4, 6-3) over Venezuela’s Maria Vento-Kabchi.

The victory was less straightforward than the scoreline suggested, however, with the Swiss teenager having to fight back from 1-4 down following a poor start to the opening set.

Mikaelian’s possible route towards the Tashkent final has already been eased by a number of high-profile exits with five of the tournament’s eight seeds crashing out in the opening round.

Standing between the young Swiss and a place in the Tashkent semi-finals will be Belarusian player Nadejda Ostrovskaya (WTA 235), who was gifted a place in the quarter-finals on Wednesday following the second round withdrawal of her Russian opponent Olga Kalyuzhnayn.

Rosset crumbles

While the youthful Mikaelian was able to bounce back in Tashkent, Swiss veteran Marc Rosset (ATP 114) appeared to be showing his age at the Queens grass court tournament in London.

The 31-year-old Genevan seemed comfortably on course for a place in the third round on Wednesday after taking a 6-4, 4-1 lead against American teenager Robby Ginepri (ATP 122).

But despite being a double break up, Rosset was unable to complete his win, eventually surrendering the match 6-4, 5-7, 4-6.

swissinfo with agencies