TENNIS ANTWERP DIAMON GAMES – The Antwerp Diamond Games produced two major upsets as the top 2 players Eugenie Bouchard and Angelique Kerber were both knocked out of the tournament which makes it return on the WTA Tour after seven years of absence with a WTA Premier status. The director is former Belgian legend Kim Clijsters. Diego Sanpaolo
The Antwerp Diamond Games produced two major upsets as the top 2 players Eugenie Bouchard and Angelique Kerber were both knocked out of the tournament which makes it return on the WTA Tour after seven years of absence with a WTA Premier status. The director is former Belgian legend Kim Clijsters
Kerber was upset by 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone who needed just 57 minutes to cruise past her German top-10 rival with 6-1 6-1. It was an outstanding match for the former Number 4 Italian player who reeled off nine points in a row from 1-1 en route to 6-1 4-0. In the first set Schiavone got two consecutive breaks and closed it out with an ace. The Italian player cruised to 4-0 in the second set before saving two break points. Schiavone closed it out on the first match point after Kerber made a double fault.
Schiavone beat a top-10 player for the first time since winning over Sam Stosur in Sydney in 2012. Since then Schiavone had lost 17 consecutive matches against top 10 players. Schiavone extended her win-loss record to 3-1 in her head-to-head matches against Kerber.
She returns to the quarter final in a WTA Premier for the first time since 2012. Schiavone will take on Carla Suarez Navarro who fought back from a set down to overcome Monica Nicolescu with 4-6 6-2 6-0. The Spanish player beat Camila Giorgi in three sets on Tuesday.
“It was a great match because I was able to play the tactics I wanted to play”, said Schiavone.
Mona Barthel fought back from a set down to edge Eugenie Bouchard 4-6 6-1 6-2 and score the fifth career win against a top-10 player.
Czech player Lucie Safarova never faced a single break point to defeat France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 6-1. Last year’s Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova battled past Belgian Indy De Vroome with 6-3 3-6 6- 2. Czech rising star Karolina Pliskova, who reached the Sydney final this year, beat Annika Beck 6-3 6-3 to set up a quarter final against Safarova.
In yesterday’s evening match Andrea Petkovic had to save 8 match points to battle past Belgian wildcard Alison Van Uytvanck 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2
