Coco Gauff saved three set points in the first set to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 after 1 hour and 20 minutes in the ecotrans Ladies Open in Berlin.
Alexandrova came back from 2-4 down in the first set to force a tie-break. Alexandrova went up a 6-3 lead in the tie-break as Gauff made her first double fault of the opening set. Gauff saved the three set points after a double fault, a backhand wide and a missed backhand return from Alexandrova. Gauff sealed the first set after Alexandrova made another double fault.
Gauff dropped just four points on serve in the second set and broke twice, first at love at 1-1 and then at 15 in the seventh game.
Pegula holds a 2-1 lead against Siniakova, but the Czech player won their only previous head-to-head match 6-3 5-7 6-4 on grass in Bad Homburg in 2021.
Gauff avenged her defeat against Alexandrova, who beat her US rival 6-4 6-0 in the Round of 16 in Berlin in 2023.
Gauff, who lost to Ons Jabeur in the semifinal in Berlin in 2022, advanced the quarter final of this tournament for the second time in her career. Gauff will renew her rivalry against Jabeur in the semifinal at this year’s edition of the German grass tournament. Jabeur beat Linda Noskova 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4.
“When you are down in those points in tie-breaks, I just tell myself just to get one, and then one point turns into two. I was just hoping she would not ace me on one of those points. I was just hoping I could get a ball in the court”, said Gauff.
Gauff was joined in the quarter finals by her doubles partner Jessica Pegula, who beat Donna Vekic 6-4 7-5 to reach her fifth quarter final of the 2024 season.
Pegula set up a match against Katerina Siniakova, who beat number 6 seed Zheng Qinwen 6-4 6-4 to clinch her 10th win against a top-ten player. Siniakova has reached her fourth quarter final on grass after Birmingham in 2015 and Bad Homburg in 2021 and 2023. Last year she won the Bad Homburg beating Lucia Bronzetti in the final.
Siniakova earned her first break in the opening game to win the first set 6-4. Zheng broke at love in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. Siniakova won four consecutive games to take a 4-2 lead with two breaks. Zheng pulled back on serve in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Siniakova broke for the third time at 15 in the ninth game and sealed the win on her first match point.
