By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Linz, Austria (SportsNetwork.com) - American Sloane Stephens was a hard- fought second-round winner Thursday at the Generali Ladies Linz tennis tournament.
The second-seeded 20-year-old went the distance to stave off former top-10 star Andrea Petkovic of Germany, 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-3, in 2 hours, 31 minutes on the indoor hardcourts at TipsArena Linz.
Stephens' quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be Swiss Stefanie Voegele.
Another seed in action on Day 4 was No. 7 and 2011 runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, who drubbed Polish qualifier Katarzyna Piter 6-0, 6-1 in a mere 52 minutes.
Meanwhile, wild card and Austrian crowd favorite Patricia Mayr-Achleitner snuck past Ukrainian lucky loser Maryna Zanevska 6-1, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4 and the aforementioned Voegele fought back to beat Italian Karin Knapp 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
This week's winner will claim $43,700.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/stephens-sneaks-into-linz-qfs