Tsurenko, Radwanska, Govortsova topple seeds

Qualifier Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, Urszula Radwanska of Poland and last year's finalist Olga Govortsova toppled second seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania, fifth seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia and sixth seeded Misaki Doi to make the last-eight stage of the 16th edition of the Tashkent Open WTA Tennis Championships being played at the Olympic School Tennis complex here Wednesday.

In the second round matches, Lesia, ranked 124, won her fifth match in a row, packing off second seeded and 61st ranked Irina-Camelia 6-1, 7-6(3).

Former top-30 player Radwanska, currently ranked 205, ousted 79th ranked Donna of Croatia 6-3, 6-3, while 114th ranked Olga packed off the 87th ranked and sixth seeded south paw Misaki of Japan 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Top seeded Bojana Jovanovski survived in the clash between former champions, winning 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-3 against Alla Kudryavtseva in a thriller that lasted 151 minutes.

It was a great day for the large crowds as two local stars Nigina Abduraimova and Akgul Amanmuradova made it to the last eight where they will clash with each other. The tall and lanky Nigina hammered 12 aces on her way to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Alexandra Panova of Russia, while Akgul on her comeback trail outplayed qualifier Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 6-2 in less than an hour.