Stuttgart, Apr 20 (AP) Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the quarterfinals at the Porsche Grand Prix by beating Barbora Krejcikova 6-2 6-3.

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The Australian Open champion has reached the final in Stuttgart for two straight years but has yet to win the clay-court tournament.

Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion, has beaten Sabalenka only once in six career meetings.

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Coco Gauff, Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur also recorded victories on Wednesday.

The fifth-seeded Gauff fought off a deciding-set comeback from Veronika Kudermetova to win 6-2 4-6 7-6 (3) and move into the second round.

Gauff's Russian opponent won four straight games to take the second set from 4-2 down and came back from 5-3 down in the decider to force a tiebreaker before Gauff finally secured the win. The 19-year-old American plays Anastasia Potapova next.

Gauff is playing her first tournament since splitting with coach Diego Moyano following the Miami Open.

Rybakina won five games in a row to seal a 7-5 6-3 win over Jule Niemeier after trailing 3-1 in the second set. She next plays Beatriz Haddad Maia.

The third-seeded Jabeur beat Jelena Ostapenko 1-6 7-5 6-3.

Playing each other for the third time in four tournaments, Karolina Pliskova beat eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari 6-2 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with Donna Vekic. Pliskova takes a 4-3 lead in career meetings with Sakkari, who eliminated the Czech player in the third round at Indian Wells last month before going on to reach the semifinals. AP

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