QUEBEC, Canada - No.3 seed Timea Babos served her way into the last eight at the Coupe Banque Nationale on Wednesday, edging Great Britain's Naomi Broady in three sets, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
For the fourth time in five career meetings, Babos scored a victory against Broady, but the win came in typically hard-fought fashion; four of the five meetings between the pair have also gone three sets.
In a match between two big servers, breaks would normally be at a premium, but Babos managed to withstand 10 aces from Broady's racquet and earn herself four breaks of serve in the match.
A marathon third game of the deciding set saw Babos move in front by a break, as she claimed the game after five deuces, and she added an insurance break in the seventh game to move through to the quarterfinals in one hour, 53 minutes.
Babos had not reached a quarterfinal, nor had she won consecutive matches, since Moneterrey in April prior to two three-set efforts this week. Canadian soil has been kind to the Hungarian this season, as she snapped a nine-match losing streak earlier this summer at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Read more: Babos regains 'motivation', snaps nine-match losing streak in Toronto
Defending champion and Oceane Dodin won't have a chance to repeat in Quebec, as the Frenchwoman was forced to withdraw due to diziness, giving American teenager Caroline Dolehide a walkover into the quarterfinals.
Faites connaissance avec notre 3e tête de série , la Hongroise Timea Babos: https://t.co/GC1EbBv28j #CoupeBN pic.twitter.com/eC0klhPUIA
— CoupeBanqueNationale (@CoupeBN) September 13, 2017
Conversely, No.4 seed Tatjana Maria had no such struggles against American Grace Min, as the German served nine aces and broke five times in a 6-1, 6-1 second round victory.
To wrap up singles play for the day, home home Francoise Abanda reached her first WTA quarterfinal with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 win over No.5 seed Varvara Lepchenko.
The result, which is Abanda's first quarterfinal above ITF Circuit $60,000 level, will see her face Babos on Thursday for a spot in the semifinals.
Top seed Lucie Safarova will look to make the last eight on Thursday, as she takes on American teen Sofia Kenin, while Bianca Andreescu will look to make it two Canadians in the quarterfinals as she takes on Safarova's compatriot Lucie Hradecka.