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The Romanian-Ukrainian pairing Raluca Olaru/Nadiia Kichenok advanced on Wednesday to the quarterfinals of the doubles event of the 565,530-dollar Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart (WTA 500) following a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 win against No. 3 seeds Hayley Carter (US)/Luisa Stefani (Brazil).
Olaru and her partner took the lead at 2-0, 3-1, 4-2 and then 5-3 in the first set, but their opponents then tied the match, forcing a tiebreak that saw Carter and Stefani lose seven consecutive points after initially leading 5-0 and 6-1.
In the second set, the Romanian-Ukrainian pair maintained an early lead, were next tied at 3-3, then forced a break point and wrapped up the set and the match after one hour and 38 minutes of play.
Olaru and Kichenok secured a check for 4,436 euros and 100 WTA doubles points, and will next take on the winners of the match Mona Barthel/Anna-Lena Friedsam (Germany) - Oksana Kalashnikova (Georgia)/Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia).
Also on Wednesday, the Romanian-Russian pairing Laura Paar/Varvara Gracheva lost to top seeded Americans Desirae Krawczyk/Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-6 (1), 6-3, after one hour and 34 minutes on the court.
Second seeded Simona Halep, who received a bye to the second round, is to face today Czech Republic's Marketa Vondrousova, not before 18:00 (Romanian time).
