Korean-American player reaches quarterfinals at WTA event in Seoul

Korean-American player Kristie Ahn advanced to the quarterfinals at a WTA Tour event in Seoul on Wednesday.

Ahn, world No. 93, defeated Ana Bogdan of Romania 0-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the second round of the Korea Open at Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul. In Friday’s quarterfinals, Ahn will face second-seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia.

Alexandrova defeated Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the last second-round match of Wednesday. At No. 39, Alexandrova is the highest-ranked player remaining in the tournament, following the withdrawal by 27th-ranked Maria Sakkari on Tuesday due to a wrist injury.

Ahn failed to win a game against the 143rd-ranked qualifier in the first set, but she bounced back to take the second set 6-4.

She then rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the third set to win the match in a tiebreak.

Serving at 4-3 in the third, Ahn was broken to go down 5-3. She returned the favor to break Bogdan and cut it to 5-4.

Ahn blew a 30-0 lead in her service game before eventually winning it to knot things up at 5-5.

Bogdan and Ahn each held their serve to set up the tiebreak, where Ahn scored the first four points and clinched the victory on Bogdan’s fourth double fault of the match.

Ahn, born to South Korean parents in New Jersey, is seeking her maiden WTA title.

In the day’s other matches, Wang Yafan of China defeated Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Poland’s Magda Linette got past Anastasia Potapova of Russia 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium beat Margarita Gasparyan of Russia 6-3, 7-5.