Top seed Putintseva, American Brengle into Nuremberg quarterfinals

NUREMBERG, Germany (AP) — Top-seeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan beat Germany's Mona Barthel 7-6 (8), 6-1 to book her place in the Nuremberg Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Putintseva, who is ranked 39th, saved three set points in the first set before beating Barthel in 1 hour, 45 minutes.

She will next face wild-card entry Anna-Lena Friedsam, who upset eighth-seeded Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-1 in an all-German duel. Friedsam is ranked No. 523 after recovering from a shoulder injury.

Madison Brengle also advanced to the quarterfinals at the clay-court tournament, beating Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (6), 6-0.

The American next faces second-seeded Katerina Siniakova, who defeated defending champion Johanna Larsson 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Both Larsson and Siniakova were playing their second match of the day because of rain delays earlier in the week. Larsson beat Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-4 and Siniakova rallied to beat Mandy Minella 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek upset third-seeded Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal against Veronika Kudermetova of the Czech Republic.

Also Wednesday, Nina Stojanovic reached the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 0-6, 6-3 win over Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo. The Serbian next faces Sorana Cirstea of Romania.