The quarterfinals for the 2015 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford have been set as eight players have remained in the 32-player draw after two rounds of action.
Four players punched their ticket for the round of the final eight yesterday already, as Ajla Tomljanovic, Mona Barthel, Elina Svitolina & Alison Riske had an off-day on Wednesday.
The first one to join the four was Angelique Kerber, taking swift care of young Croatian Ana Konjuh. Kerber had no problems overcoming the young talent in straight set, giving Konjuh only seven games to take home with from Stanford.
Afterwards, it was time for the #2 seed to play her match and unlike Kerber, Agnieszka Radwanska had major troubles finding her footing in the tournament. The Polish #1 comprehensively lost the first set to Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi, but managed to regroup in the second set to finish the match off on a high note, avoiding what would have been a very wrong start into her US hardcourt season.
Kimiko Date-Krumm already had an excellent week even before her second-round match against Karolina Pliskova even started, making her way through qualifying and upsetting Sabine Lisicki in the first round. For much of the first set, it looked like the 44-year-old WTA veteran was able to do even more damage here, taking Pliskova to the verge of losing the first set. All it needed was a single break to turn the match in the young Czech’s favour, as Date-Krumm visibly ran out of steam in the second set, following what has been a very demanding week with lots of match play in the California heat.
The final surprise of the day was saved for last as top seed Caroline Wozniacki lost her opening match to American Varvara Lepchenko in straight sets. Having had a first-round bye, Wozniacki played with a heavily-taped left leg, looking rather uncomfortable out on court. Despite no less than four rain delays, Lepchenko kept control of the match, clinching a big win that makes her the second American in the Bank of the West Classic quarterfinals, joining Alison Riske.
