"Overall, I'm happy with my game because Sara is a great fighter. You never know what to expect in the first match of the tournament. I was able to rely on my first serve in particular today. It was great to play in the evening, there were a lot of people there. It really is a beautiful court with a great atmosphere. There were also some Czech fans there. Everything is really well organised. I've also been in the city a lot in the last few days and have seen a lot," explained Muchova and also looked ahead to the next challenge against Anastasia Potapova, the 2023 Linz winner: "I'm expecting a very tough match because she plays extremely fast. It will be very different to today," added the US Open semi-finalist of the last two years.

Blinkova prevails against Svitolina

For former world number three Elina Svitolina, her return to the Upper Austria Ladies Linz after twelve years came to an end after the first match. Although the Ukrainian tried everything, she ultimately had to recognise Anna Blinkova's enormously stable performance. After 97 minutes, Blinkova converted her second match point to win 6:4, 6:4 and will now face the enormously strong-serving Dane Clara Tauson, who had a day off on Thursday and will now go into the last eight well rested.

Another real highlight in the quarter-finals will be the match between Dayana Yastremska and third seed Maria Sakkari (not before 1pm). The Ukrainian Yastremska reached the quarter-finals in Linz for the first time with a 7:5, 6:1 victory over the Croatian qualifier Antonia Rudzic.

Ekaterina Alexandrova's passion for Linz lives on

Ekaterina Alexandrova made it through to the last eight of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz for the fifth time on Thursday evening. The 30-year-old celebrated a successful start to the 34th edition of the tennis classic in Linz and confidently got the better of Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6:3, 6:2. She will play Petra Martic in the last match of the day on Friday (not before 6 pm). The Croatian qualifier, who had already reached the final in Linz in 2023, won her second marathon match in a row. Her 6:4, 4:6, 7:5 victory over Elina Avanesyan was secured after 2:49 hours. She now needs to recover quickly to inflict her first ever defeat on Alexandrova in a Linz quarter-final. Alexandrova reached the final in 2018 and 2024 and the semi-finals in 2019 and 2020.