MATCH POINTS

2015 Baku champion Margarita Gasparyan will play the first quarterfinal of her comeback from three knee surgeries against qualifier Fanny Stollar. The former World No.41 spent 16 months on the sidelines between Wimbledon 2016 and Moscow 2017; since returning, she has compiled an 20-10 record, including an ITF $25,000 final in Les Franqueses del Valles in May, WTA main draw wins in Nanchang and Seoul, and three Top 100 victories (over Hsieh Su-Wei and Polona Hercog in New Haven qualifying, and Tatjana Maria in the second round here this week).

Kateryna Kozlova holds a 1-0 head-to-head record against No.6 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, having defeated the Slovak 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-1 in US Open 2017 qualifying. All three remaining quarterfinals are first-time meetings.

19-year-old qualifier Fanny Stollar is playing her second career WTA quarterfinal following Nurnberg in May, and is bidding for her maiden semifinal. No.2 seed Vera Lapko and No.8 seed Dalila Jakupovic both made their first last-four appearance this year, in Lugano and Bogota respectively, and are seeking a second career run to that stage.

Three quarterfinalists have reached a WTA final this year: Bogota champion Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Taipei City runner-up Kateryna Kozlova and Moscow River Cup finalist Anastasia Potapova. Kozlova is also the most accomplished player in Tashkent, having previously reached two quarterfinals (2015, 2017) and one semifinal (2016) in the Uzbek capital.

World No.299 Margarita Gasparyan is the fourth lowest ranked player to reach a WTA quarterfinal this year. The only players ranked lower were Liang En-Shuo (World No.405 in Nanchang), Elena Rybakina (World No.450 in St. Petersburg) and Emiliana Arango (World No.510 in Bogota) - all of whom fell at that stage.

ORDER OF PLAY

CENTER (starts 10am)

Kateryna KOZLOVA (UKR) vs Anna Karolina SCHMIEDLOVA (SVK) [6]
[Q] Anastasia POTAPOVA (RUS) vs Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) [8]
Mona BARTHEL (GER) vs Vera LAPKO (BLR) [2]
Margarita GASPARYAN (RUS) vs [Q] Fanny STOLLAR (HUN)

COURT 2 (not before 12.30pm)

Kateryna KOZLOVA (UKR) / Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS) vs Nao HIBINO (JPN) / Oksana KALASHNIKOVA (GEO) [2]
Olga DANILOVIC (SRB) / Tamara ZIDANSEK (SLO) vs Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) / Vera LAPKO (BLR) [4]