THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) No. 1-seeded Belinda Bencic reached the quarterfinals of the Ricoh Open with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Varvara Lepchenko on Thursday, her second difficult match in the grass court tournament where she reached the final last year.
Bencic, coming off a two-month injury layoff, was taken to the three sets by Alison Van Uytvanck in her first-round match and had to rally from a set down against Lepchenko in her second round to reach a quarterfinal against fellow Swiss Viktorija Golubic, who beat Risa Ozaki 6-4, 6-2.
''I don't think it was a really good match from my side, but all I could do myself was just to fight and keep going,'' Bencic said. ''I'm just hoping to improve.''
Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic lost 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-4 to Evgeniya Rodina and No. 4 Jelena Ostapenko lost 7-5, 6-2 to Kateryna Kozlova.
In the men's draw, two-time champion and No. 1-seeded David Ferrer beat Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-4 in his first grass court match of the season and No. 3 Ivo Karlovic beat Igor Sijsling 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).
Ferrer moved into a quarterfinal match against seventh-seeded Gilles Muller, who beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 6-1.