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Top seed Svitolina crashes out in Brisbane

Brisbane - Top seed and defending champion Elina Svitolina crashed out of the Brisbane International at the hands of Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Wednesday.

In a replay of last year's final, Sasnovich reversed that result as she ousted Svitolina 6-4, 0-6, 6-3.

The Belarusian displayed some breathtaking shot making in the first set before Svitolina stormed back in the second.

But Sasnovich continued to go for her shots and broke Svitolina twice in the third set to seal victory and book a quarter-final against Croatian Donna Vekic.

Vekic continued her good form when she downed Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens in three sets 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-5.

Vekic looked in trouble when she was down 4-5 in the third with Bertens serving for the match, but the Croatian fought back to win the next three games and book her place in the quarter-finals.

"I'm really happy to have this kind of match in the first tournament, to see how much I can push myself," she said.

"Obviously I can play long, play good and win, so I'm really happy about that."

Estonia's Annet Kontaveit caused a boilover when she beat fourth seeded Czech Petra Kvitova 7-5, 7-6 (7/1).

Kontaveit, whose compatriot Kaia Kanepi won this tournament in 2012, was too consistent for Kvitova, who was backing up after a three-hour first-round win over Danielle Collins late Tuesday afternoon.

"We played each other quite a lot of times last year so I knew it was going to be tough from the beginning," Kontaveit said.

"I was just trying to hang in there in the second set. I'm just so happy."

Latvian Anastasija Sevastova earlier thrashed British qualifier Harriet Dart 6-2, 6-0.

Former champion Karolina Pliskova downed fellow countrywoman Marie Bouzkova 7-5, 6-2 and will face off against Australia's Alja Tomljanovic in the quarter-finals.

Tomljanovic secured her place in the last eight with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) win over Britain's Johanna Konta.

Results of matches played at the ATP/WTA Brisbane International tennis tournament at the Queensland Tennis Centre on Wednesday (X denotes seed):

Second round

Men

Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) bt Kyle Edmund (GBR X3) 7-6 (8/6), 6-4

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL X6) bt John Millman (AUS) 6-3, 6-4

Kei Nishikori (JPN X2) bt Denis Kudla (USA) 7-5, 6-2

Milos Raonic (CAN X5) bt Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) 6-3, 7-6 (7/2)

Jeremy Chardy (FRA) bt Nick Kyrgios (AUS X8) 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-3

Daniil Medvedev (RUS X4) bt Andy Murray (GBR) 7-5, 6-2

Alex de Minaur (AUS X7) bt Jordan Thompson (AUS) 6-4, 6-2

Women

Anastasija Sevastova (LAT X8) bt Harriet Dart (GBR) 6-2, 6-0

Anett Kontaveit (EST) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE X4) 7-5, 7-6 (7/1)

Karolina Pliskova (CZE X5) bt Marie Bouzkova (CZE) 7-5, 6-2

Donna Vekic (CRO) bt Kiki Bertens (NED X6) 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-5

Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) bt Johanna Konta (GBR) 6-2, 7-6 (7/2)

Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR X1) 6-4, 0-6, 6-3

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