JURMALA, Lativa - Top seed Anastasija Sevastova flew the flag of the home country into the quarterfinals of the Baltic Open, but not without a scare.

The Latvian No.1 and World No.11 survived a stern challenge from Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic in the second round on Wednesday, as she came from a set down and won the last three games to advance to the last eight, 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4.

"Dalila is really a great player. It was a tough, but I was fighting myself...for everybody here," Sevastova said after the match. "I feel great that it's over. I was fighting until the end."

Sevastova had three set points in the opening set, in which she trailed 4-1 but ralled to win four games in a row to serve for a one-set lead, but the Slovenian World No.147 had other ideas for an upset bid. 

Jakupovic broke Sevastova in a key 10th game, and won seven of the last nine points of the ensuing tiebreak to wrestle control of the match, and later found herself up a break in the decider after trailing 3-1.

However, the Slovenian dropped serve in a long eighth game, and though she seemed primed to level the decider from 0-30 down on serve in the 10th, Sevastova erased her game point chance to hold and ultimately came through the match in two hours and 16 minutes.


Though Sevastova managed to come through a stern challenge, the same could not be said for No.2 seed Caroline Garcia, who was beaten by compatriot Chloe Paquet, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The 25-year-old Frenchwoman was 0-3 against her heralded compatriot entering the match, including 0-2 on clay, and had never won a set previously. 

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However, Paquet turned around a 6-4, 4-2 deficit to secure the upset against Garcia, who was a point away from falling to Kristyna Pliskova in the first round, to advance to a quarterfinal meeting against Poland's Katarzyna Kawa.

"To play against Garcia was hard, because she is a top player. I fought until the end," Paquet said. 

"I am so happy to win this match. I think I won, because I was not afraid and I tried to be calm. This was our fourth match, and it was the first time I won. Before the match I was saying to myself, 'It is Latvia, Jurmala, maybe something is gonna change,' and it did."

Kawa, a qualifier, and Bucharest finalist Patricia Maria Tig rounded out the slate of players to advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday. 

Kawa beat wildcard Jana Fett, the first-round conquerer of No.7 seed Tatjana Maria, 6-3, 6-0, while Tig beat Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina, 6-4, 6-4.