Top seed Ons Jabeur and French Open runner-up Coco Gauff both advanced to the quarter-finals of the Berlin WTA grass court tournament on Thursday.
Tunisian Jabeur saved a set point to snuff out the challenge of 169th-ranked American Alycia Parks 6-2, 7-6 (10/8) to set up a clash with Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich as she targets a fourth semi-final of the season.
“The second set, she started to play much better, and I had to take my chances when I had the break,” said Jabeur.
“It’s tough, I should have taken my chances when I was serving. I knew if it was gonna be 6-5 it would be really tough for me. But I’m glad I stayed calm afterwards.”
Jabeur, the world number four, won her first tournament on grass in Birmingham last year before reaching the quarter-finals in Wimbledon.
Eighteen-year-old Gauff, the seventh seed, dominated China’s Wang Xinyu 6-0, 6-4 to set up a clash with Czech seventh seed Karolina Pliskova, a Wimbledon finalist last year.
In another game, Belinda Bencic beat Anna Kalinskaya 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 to reach her sixth quarterfinal of 2022.
A high-quality and tightly-contested first set was ultimately decided by one break of serve. At 4-4, a pair of double faults from Kalinskaya opened the door for Bencic, and the Swiss player seized her opportunity with aggressive returning before serving out the set efficiently.
Bencic continued to play brilliantly to immediately bring up triple break point in the first game of the second set – but after squandering all three chances, the match underwent a sudden momentum shift. The clarity in Bencic’s shot selection dissipated, and was replaced by wild hitting. By contrast, Kalinskaya raised her level, particularly on serve, and sped through six out of seven games.
Bencic, runner-up here last year, reversed this swing with more dynamic play at the start of the decider. The 25-year-old swatted a drive volley away to break for 2-0, and dominated the set thereafter with a resumption of her first-set form.
A superb angled forehand sealed a second break for 5-1, and a game later Bencic converted her first match point with a forehand down the line, her 35th winner of the day.
(with inputs from Agencies)
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