Elena Malõgina through to Helsinki quarter finals, set to break into top 300
Estonia's top women's tennis player Elena Malõgina is through to the quarterfinals at the ongoing W50 ITF tournament in Helsinki.
Malõgina, ranked 306th by the WTA, has also reached the doubles semifinals at the same competition.
After conceding only three games in the first round to Hungarian Adrienn Nagy (WTA 654), Malõgina showed the same confident form in the second round, where she faced Slovak Viktória Hrunčáková, a former top 50 player who is now ranked 217th in the world.
In the opening set, Malõgina broke the fifth-seeded Hrunčáková's serve three times and secured the set 6–3. The second set was even more one-sided, as the Estonian surged to a 5–0 lead with two breaks and eventually won 6–1 to take the match.
She will next face the tournament second seed Mona Barthel (WTA 193) of Germany, who defeated her compatriot Jule Niemeier (WTA 297) in round two.
As noted, Malõgina is also through to the semifinals in the doubles in Helsinki, with her partner Rasheeda McAdoo (U.S.). The Estonian–U.S. pair lost the opening set 6–3 to Lea Nilsson (Sweden) and Jeline Vandromme (Belgium), but answered by winning the second set 6–2. In the decisive match tiebreak, Malõgina and McAdoo won five consecutive points from 4–4 to seal a 10–5 victory.
They next face the all-Swedish duo of Caijsa Wilda Hennemann and Lisa Zaar in the semifinals.
Malõgina's strong recent performances also mean she is set to break into the top 300 in the world when the next WTA rankings are announced.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Henrik Laever
