Fourth seed Maria Sharapova crashed out of the US$2.4 million WTA Wuhan Open in two sets yesterday, while world No. 8 Angelique Kerber crushed her opponent to make the quarter-finals.
Sharapova was defeated by Timea Bacsinszky in a tight game, losing the first set in the tiebreak and the second 7-5 — a result which broke the hearts of the local crowd who were supporting the Russian world No. 4.
“There were a lot of, you know, times in the match where I did everything right for the first few balls and then didn’t execute in the points,” Sharapova said. “I think I always allowed her to get another ball back and to make me play another ball. Then, obviously, that didn’t help me, because I was making more mistakes.”
Photo: AFP
The tournament has already suffered the loss of a string of seeds, including world No. 1 Serena Williams, while local hero Li Na announced her retirement days before it started.
Switzerland’s Bacsinszky will go on to play world No. 8 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals after the Danish player cruised past Casey Dellacqua of Australia 6-0, 6-3 in a late match.
Kerber, the seventh seed in Wuhan, lost only two games in her match with Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic, winning 6-1, 6-1.
Photo: AFP
“I played a very good match. It was tough, because Barbora is a great player and she played very well,” Kerber said. “I’m happy about my performance today.”
French players Caroline Garcia and Alize Cornet also made it through to the quarter-finals.
Cornet took the first set against Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in the tiebreak, before she was given a shock in the second, in which she won only one game, but the world No. 22 appeared more dominant in the third set, finally sealing a 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-3 victory.
“I think that Kirsten played much better in the second set,” Cornet said. “Already at the end of the first set she was playing better and it was good that I took this first set.”
Cornet described the final games of the match as a “huge fight,” adding: “I was just fighting and trying my best. At the end it worked out.”
Garcia continued her fine run at Wuhan with victory over Coco Vandeweghe of the US.
The 20-year-old rising star, who claimed the scalp of world No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round, defeated the Vendeweghe 6-3, 6-2 to make it through to the quarter-finals.
However, it was a sad day for Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, another player who performed heroics in the second round, after she withdraw from her third-round match with gastritis before a ball was hit.
Muguruza had defeated second seed Simona Halep in the second round. Her opponent, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, meets Kerber in the quarters.
In the yesterday’s other late matches, third seed Petra Kvitova defeated fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 and sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard beat Alison Riske of the US 6-2, 6-3.
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