Top seed Sara Errani has been knocked out of the Monterrey Open following a 6-1, 6-3, loss to world No.91 Anett Kontaveit.
The Italian world No.17 failed to match the inspired performance produced by her 20-year-old rival on the court. Errani started the match positively by holding her service during a tight opening game. The first game was a good as it got for the top seed as Kontaveit claimed six consecutive games, breaking Errani three times, to seal the opening set after 23 minutes of play.
Fortunately for the Mexican crowd, the second set was much more competitive with a series of breaks for both players. Emulating the first set, Errani started positively by breaking her Estonian opponent straight away before she dropped her serve yet again in the following game. The exchange in breaks of serve continued a couple games on. Kontaveit, who achieved a career ranking best of 85 in January, broke to lead 4-2. Unlike the opening set, Errani responded by breaking back to love, however, her fragile serve proved fatal to her chances of staging a comeback. As the 28-year-old served to level at 4-4, Kontaveit produced inspired play to break Errani once again to give her a chance to serve for the match. The Estonian served out the match with ease, sealing the match with an outstanding crosscourt forehand winner.
Errani is the highest ranked player that Kontaveit has beaten in her entire career. The 20-year-old produced five aces and converted 6/11 break point opportunities to seal the win after just 53 minutes of play. Shortly after her shock win, the Estonian put her one-sided triumph down to her aggressive play.
“I guess my style is to stay aggressive and that’s what I did”. The delighted Estonian said during her on-court interview.
Kontaveit will play American qualifier, Nicole Gibbs, in the last eight. It will be the second WTA quarterfinal in Kontaveit’s career. Gibbs moved into the quarterfinals after her opponent, Christine McHale, retired injured during the final set.
Wozniacki Eases Through
There was better news for second seed Caroline Wozniacki after she defeated Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-4, 6-4.
The Danish world No.22 was forced to stage a comeback in both sets before taking the win. During the opening set, Wozniacki trailed 2-4 before winning four consecutive games to take the opening set. She then suffered another early break in the second set before breaking back immediately. The second seed clinched the match after a lengthy rally between both players on match point concluded with Lucic-Baroni hitting a backhand error.
Wozniacki converted 4/5 break points and won 67% of her service points to seal the win after an hour and 16 minutes of play.
In the quarterfinals, she will play British player Heather Watson in what will be their first meeting on the tour. Wozniacki is bidding to win her first WTA title in South America this week.
Only three seeded players remain in the Monterey draw. Apart from Wozniacki, fifth seed Caroline Garcia and fourth seed Johanna Konta are also still in contention for the Mexican title.
