Donna Vekic comeback stuns Elena Rybakina at German Open, Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia progress
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Updated 21/06/2023 at 17:25 GMT
Donna Vekic produced a stunning comeback from a set down to beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and reach the quarter-finals oft the German Open. The Croatian will face Elina Avanesyan next. Maria Sakkari comfortably prevailed past Alize Cornet in a straight-sets win. In Birmingham, Harriet Dart earned a superb win over fifth seed Anhelina Kalinina to reach the last eight.
Top 10 points – Gauff and Swiatek light up women’s draw
Second seed Elena Rybakina crashed out of the German Open on Wednesday as Donna Vekic came from a set down to win 6-7(1) 6-3 6-4 and seal a quarter-final spot.
It brought reigning Wimbledon champion Rybakina's nine-match unbeaten streak to a surprising end, as the Croatian earned her third top-10 win of the season.
Rybakina dominated a first-set tie-break, surrendering just one point, after neither player managed to break serve in the opener.
Vekic continued to impress on serve in the following two sets and finished the two hour, 14 minute clash without being broken once.
She set up a last-eight clash with lucky loser Elina Avanesyan, who beat Anna Blinkova 1-6 6-3 6-2.
"I'm really happy to not only beat her, but to be in the quarter-finals here," Vekic said.
"I stayed in the moment. I was just trying to play the next point, the next game. She was serving unbelievable today. She's definitely, I think, the best server on the women's tour right now. She was serving really big, so I was like, 'Just stay with her; your chances will come,' and they did.
"I was just trying to go for it, to be aggressive, which is not easy. In a way, I found myself lucky almost, every time I could get the return in. I felt in a better position once I was in the rally, but to get her serve back was not easy."
Maria Sakkari progressed with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Alize Cornet, gaining revenge for a surprise second-round defeat to the same opponent at Nottingham.
Having lost 6-1 6-4 just a week ago, world No. 8 Sakkari made relatively light work of Cornet on this occasion to seal a place in the next round.
Sakkari will next play Aliaksandra Sasnovich after she beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4 6-4.
Cornet claimed the first game on her serve with a hold to 15, and Sakkari staved off three break points to level things up on her service.
The Greek was finding her flow with an impressive range of shots playing largely from the baseline, and broke Cornet for the first time to move 2-1 ahead.
The aggressive and physical nature of Sakkari's play was really coming to the fore, and after holding the next game, she broke Cornet again to move 4-1 up after finishing things off with a well-executed backhand.
Cornet was forced into a medical timeout before Sakkari claimed the sixth game on her serve.
From 5-1 behind, Cornet reduced the deficit to 5-4 as Sakkari continued to falter with the accuracy in her return game, leaving the first set in the balance.
A topsy-turvy 10th game saw unforced errors galore and Sakkari save four break points.
Sakkari’s relief was clearly evident after finally taking the set with a forehand strike.
From that point onwards, Sakkari motored on and moved 2-0 ahead in the second set. She broke Cornet again in the first game and fought off three break points herself in the second.
World No. 60 Cornet halved the deficit on her serve, but the Greek was finding her range again to hold the next game and break Cornet to move 4-1 in front.
Cornet showed the quality of her return game to break back, but Sakkari then did the same to leave her serving for the match.
The Greek wrapped things up on her second match point after Cornet played a return long, winning the second set 6-2.
Meanwhile, third seed Garcia was another to make it through to the last eight after seeing off Australia's Jaimee Fourlis 6-3 6-2.
Garcia was in control in both sets, taking the opener having broken early on.
It was a similar story in the second set as Garcia romped to a 5-1 lead with some classy tennis as Fourlis was unable to respond, the Frenchwoman serving it out thereafter to progress.
Earlier in the day, Marketa Vondrousova beat Bianca Andreescu 7-6(0) 7-5, while Veronika Kudermetova was a 6-4 6-2 winner against Qinwen Zheng.
Seventh seed Petra Kvitova was a convincing 6-1 6-1 winner against Nadia Podoroska in just 49 minutes.
The Wimbledon build-up continues in the UK too at the Birmingham Classic, where there was a convincing win for top seed Barbora Krejcikova, who saw off Cristina Bucsa 6-3 6-3 to move into the last 16.
Briton Harriet Dart earned a superb 6-3 3-6 6-1 win against fifth seed Anhelina Kalinina to reach the quarter-finals.
Third seed Magda Linette crashed out, losing 6-3 6-0 to Lin Zhu, while Linda Fruhvirtova beat Bernarda Pera, Tereza Martincova defeated Viktoriya Tomova and Emina Bektas eliminated Shuai Zhang - all in straight sets.
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