The quarterfinal field was defined on Thursday at the Western & Southern Open, as eight players won their third-round matches, with mixed results for the seeds.
Top seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia overcame 49 unforced errors to prevail against Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 4-6 7-5 7-5 and will next face Maria Sakkari, as the Greek reached the last eight with a tough 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4 win over ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
Japanese second seed Naomi Osaka fired 15 aces to no double faults, but still it was a tough, two-and-a-half-hour victory over Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei 7-6(3) 5-7 6-2. In the quarterfinals, Osaka will play American Sofia Kenin, who took down seventh seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3 7-6(3).
Third-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic needed one hour and 42 minutes to beat Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson in straight sets 7-5 6-4 and her next opponent will be Russian wildcard Svetlana Kuznetsova, who upended American eighth seed Sloane Stephens 6-1 6-2.
The Cincinnati quarterfinals will also feature an all-American encounter, as Venus Williams claimed a 2-6 6-3 6-3 victory over Croatia’s Donna Vekic and 16th seed Madison Keys took down fourth-seeded Wimbledon champion Simona Halep 6-1 3-6 7-5 in the third round.
Besides bringing us photos from the singles quarterfinals, our Jimmie48 also attended the doubles quarterfinal victories of the Pliskova twins and the Coco Vandeweghe & Bethanie Mattek-Sands pair.
MORE WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN 2019 PHOTOS:
- Wednesday: Barty’s win over Sharapova marks successful second round for the seeds
- Tuesday: Venus upsets defending champ Bertens, Keys the only seed to advance
- Monday: Sharapova gets past Riske, Peterson & Swiatek make upsets
- Sunday: Strycova gets WTA Doubles World No.1 trophy, Osaka all smiles during practice
- Saturday: Vekic, Wozniacki, Sharapova, Kasatkina, Goerges practice in hot & humid conditions
