As Coco Gauff opened her grass court campaign with a win over Ekaterina Alexandrova at the ecotrans Ladies Open in Berlin on Thursday, Marketa Vondrousova slipped on the grass against Anna Kalinskaya and was forced to retire injured, putting her title defense at Wimbledon in jeopardy. Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, and Jessica Pegula all safely got off the mark in straight sets to reach the Last 8.
Gauff, the top seed at the WTA 500 tournament in Berlin, recorded a 7-6(6) 6-2 win over Alexandrova, saving three set points in the first set before cruising through the second to finish in 80 minutes.
Also in the quarter-finals is Ons Jabeur, who successfully battled past Linda Noskova, but Zheng Qinwen was upset by Katerina Siniakova.
Gauff advances to face Jabeur, the 8th seed from Tunisia, who posted a 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 win over 19-year-old Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic.
Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed from Belarus, made a dominant start to her grass court season, demolishing Daria Kasatkina, the World No. 14 from Russia, 6-0 6-4 in her first grass match of the season to set up a quarter-final meeting against another Russian, Anna Kalinskaya, ranked 24, against whom she has a 3-1 head-to-head record.
Vondrousova’s predecessor as Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina, made it through to the quarter-finals with a 6-4 7-5 win over Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova.
