World No.135 Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan had to qualify for the main draw of the Rogers Cup and the extra matches she played are not preventing her from scoring one great victory after the other: in the first round she upset ninth seed Marion Bartoli, afterwards Flavia Pennetta, and her latest success story is a well-deserved victory over fifth seed Maria Sharapova in the third round.
In the first set Voskoboeva faced no break points and she simply built on the quickly-established 4-2 lead to take the first set 6-3. The second set was more closely contested, with both players having ups and downs, earned and lost opportunities, but Voskoboeva didn’t let the opportunity slip away and won the second set 7-5.
Voskoboeva’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be fourth seed Victoria Azarenka, who defeated qualifier Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1 6-2.
In her first tournament since winning Wimbledon, Petra Kvitova was stunned by Andrea Petkovic decisively, 6-1 6-2. Li Na is also out – she fell to Samantha Stosur 6-2 6-4 in the third round. Roberta Vinci, who upset world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the previous round, has progressed to the quarterfinals with a 7-6(3) 6-2 win over Ana Ivanovic.
A bad day for Grand Slam champions at Rogers Cup, so far this Thursday four were in action and four lost: Ivanovic, Li, Kvitova and Sharapova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
I’m a Masha’a fan, but Galina totally deserved to win, she was better.
What a surprise! I am looking forward to see Galina in Flushing Meadows.