TENNIS WTA EASTBOURNE – In another day full of surprises at the WTA premier event of the Aegon Internationals at Eastbourne, Camila Giorgi and Angelique Kerber saved match points before winning their matches, Heather Watson got her first top 20 win, while Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki won with ease. From Eastbourne, Giulio Gasparin
In another day full of surprises at the WTA premier event of the Aegon Internationals at Eastbourne, Camila Giorgi and Angelique Kerber saved match points before winning their matches, Heather Watson got her first top 20 win, while Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki won with ease.
In the opening match on court 1, 5th seed Kerber found herself very close to a clamorous defeat against Alize Cornet, who had multiple match points on 5-4 in the third set on her serve.
Cornet showed a great improvement on fast surfaces this year and in this match she gave another proof, but as it seems to happen quite often in her matches, she failed to close when she had the chance.
Kerber, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon two years ago, is looking far from her best shape this season, but she keeps winning matches thanks to a great fighting spirit and today it happened once more.
After breaking back, the German went on taking the match in a one sided tiebreak. 7-5 1-6 7-6 (3) the final score. She will face Ekaterina Makarova in the next round, as the latter defeated Pavlyuchenkova in an all-Russian round.
Contemporary, the slayer of the Vika Azarenka, Camila Giorgi, needed as much of an effort to overcome local wildcard Johanna Konta 1-6 7-5 7-5.
The Italian seemed to suffer the solid game of the Brit, who gave away very few points for free and served particularly well in the key moments.
Giorgi managed to turn around a match that started extremely badly, as her forehand was all over the place, but Konta kept fighting until the very end.
In the third set, the English player had no break points until 5-4, when Giorgi had to face the first –and only- match point.
The Italian player saved it with a terrific backhand cross court that stunned the crowd, ready to enjoy their idol’s win.
Giorgi found great strength from this key point and won the three next games to secure a place in the quarter finals, where she will face Wozniacki.
The win of the former world number one was much of a relief after the latest problems, not only because it meant the first back to back win in two months, but also because it meant the fifth win in as many matches against Sloane Stephens, without ever dropping a set.
The British crowd had a reason to be happy after the chance missed by Konta, as Watson defeated in three sets Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-7 (6) 6-3 6-2.
Watson played a very aggressive match, especially in the last two sets, hitting many winners and serving extremely well, while the Indian Wells champion looked very confused and self-conscious out there.
Watson is now called for another surprise as she will face former Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova, who easily routined Varvara Lepchenko in straight sets.
In the last two matches of the day, Lauren Davis kept her dream run going, as starting from qualies, she has defeated Daniela Hantuchova for a place in the quarter finals, where she will meet Madison Keys, who defeated the defending champion Elena Vesnina in two high quality sets 7-5 7-6 (9).
