In a Gstaad tournament light on top players, big names like Sam Stosur and Eugenie Bouchard have taken full advantage as both reached the quarterfinal round with straight sets victories on Thursday.
Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, eased past 39-year-old Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-1 in just over an hour, winning an impressive 51 percent of return points in addition to more than two-thirds on her serve. Schnyder, once a top 10 player herself, looked hapless for much of the match: Stosur won seven straight games spanning sets and raced out to a 5-0 lead in the second set, all but sealing the match.
The victory continued a recent uptick in form for Stosur, who reached the final eight for the fourth time since the start of May. It also marked another win against a near-retirement veteran for the 34-year-old, who topped Francesca Schiavone in the opening round.
The No. 5 seed will meet top-seeded Alize Cornet in Friday’s most notable quarterfinal — they are the only two seeded players remaining — after the Frenchwoman eased past Conny Perrin, 6-3, 6-3. The world No. 48 won 76 percent of points on her first serve and was broken just once by the 27-year-old Swiss player, who had won three straight matches after coming through qualifying.
Cornet was ruthlessly effective on Perrin’s serve, converting all four break points she had in the quick, 65-minute victory.
Bouchard also won in straight sets but had significantly more struggles in her 7-6, 7-6 victory over Viktorija Golubic, yet another Swiss player to lose on the home dirt. Bouchard needed more than an hour to close out each set, coming back from deep holes in each.
She trailed 2-5 in the first set before rolling off four straight games, saving a pair of set points along the way, before rattling off six straight points in the tiebreak and converting the first set point of her own.
The second set looked eerily similar, as Bouchard again fell behind 2-5. Her second comeback was even more impressive, as she fought off five set points — including from 40-15 on Golubic’s serve — to reach the tiebreak. There, Bouchard built a 6-1 lead but astoundingly failed to convert all five match points before finally converting her seventh opportunity.
She saved a remarkable 13 of 17 break points against the No. 8 seed to earn a quarterfinal meeting with Veronika Kudermetova, who knocked off No. 3 seed Viktoria Kuzmova. Elsewhere, Mandy Minella beat No. 2 seed Johanna Larsson in straight sets, reaching the last eight for the first time since giving birth in October.
