IT was another fairly predictable day at both the Strasbourg and Rabat Open fantasy tournaments, with a couple of outlying matches throwing the competition for a loop. 

The biggest win of the day was at Strasbourg with Iga Swiatek impressing in a straight sets win over Serena Williams – a player 20 years her senior. Swiatek was stellar in the 6-4 6-4 victory, beating down the dominant player and putting second seed Williams through the wringer as she controlled all proceedings. Fellow young gun Coco Gauff was not quite as lucky, going down to third seed Aryna Sabalenka, putting up a tough fight as she did so. Gauff was solid in the first before Sabalenka turned the tides to win the second and third sets, and while the young talent fought back in the last it was not enough, going down to the Belarusian, 4-6 6-4 7-6. A fellow seed joining Williams on the sideline is Bianca Andreescu, with the Canadian having a phenomenal comeback in the second set against Victoria Azarenka before the Belarusian dominated to join Sabalenka in the quarter finals. 

All three remaining seeds continued through to the next round, though only Dayana Yastremska got through scot free in two sets, defeating a third American competitor in Amanda Anisimova, 6-4 6-3. Anisimova’s seeded compatriots in Sofia Kenin and Madison Keys were both taken to three sets by their respective opposition in Xiyu Wang and Caroline Garcia, both dropping the second set before regaining control to finish. The final American in the day’s draw was Sloane Stephens who defeated Xiyu’s compatriot, Shuai Zhang. Shuai could not compete with the American, unable to hold up to Stephens’ intensity and going down in straight sets, 6-3 6-3. The final match of the round saw the final Chinese competitor of the day in Qiang Wang reign supreme over Camila Giorgi. It was a tough battle against the experienced Italian, with the match going to three sets and two sets going to tiebreakers, but it was China that came out on top in the 6-2 5-7 7-5 clash. 

At Rabat it was a similar story, as second seed Elise Mertens went down to Tamara Zidansek. The match was highly contested in the early stages before the Slovenian put on the accelerator in the final set, dominating and not allowing Mertens to get a look in to run away with the 4-6 7-6 6-0 win. Mertens was the only seed bumped out here, though both Johanna Konta and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had tight tussles, dropping the first sets before taking control. Konta’s competitor in German, Andrea Petkovic had a solid start before Konta’s sensational second set, and while the third set was closely contested it was Konta who reigned supreme, 3-6 6-1 7-5. It was a similar story for Pavlyuchenkova’s competitor in Julia Goerges, with the German strong in the first by dying off in the mid-to-latter stages of the match, going down 2-6 6-3 6-1. 

The remaining five matches of the round saw all winners control the majority of their contests, with Marketa Vondrousova and Maria Sakkari the two final seeds joining the quarter finals cohort. Vondrousova defeated another Williams sister in Venus while Sakkari was too strong in the second set for Carla Suarez Navarro. Both players went down in straight sets. While Taylor Townsend had a tough battle with Alison Van Uytvancke but reigned supreme and Coco Vandeweghe defeated qualifier, Mihaela Buzarnescu despite a tight second set, qualifying Swiss Jill Teichmann was just too good against Anett Kontaveit, knocking out the Estonian 6-2 6-3. 

In tomorrow’s quarter finals expect plenty of quality clashes, with plenty of young talent in the mix looking to prove themselves ahead of the Grand Slams.

STRASBOURG OPEN ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] Sofia Kenin (USA) defeated [Q] Xiyu Wang (CHN) 6-2 2-6 6-0
Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated [2] Serena Williams (USA) 6-4 6-4
[3] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated Coco Gauff (USA) 4-6 6-4 7-6
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) defeated [4] Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 6-3 1-6 6-3
[6] Madison Keys (USA) defeated Caroline Garcia (FRA) 4-6 6-4 6-1
[7] Dayana Yastremska (UKR) defeated Amanda Anisimova (USA) 6-4 6-3
Qiang Wang (CHN) defeated Camila Giorgi (ITA) 6-2 5-7 7-5
Sloane Stephens (USA) defeated Shuai Zhang (CHN) 6-3 6-3

RABAT GRAND PRIX ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] Johanna Konta (GBR) defeated Andrea Petkovic (GER) 3-6 6-1 7-5
Tamara Zidansek (SLO) defeated [2] Elise Mertens (BEL) 4-6 7-6 6-0
[3] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) defeated Venus Williams (USA) 6-4 7-6
[5] Maria Sakkari (GRE) defeated Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) 7-6 6-3
[8] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated Julia Goerges (GER) 2-6 6-3 6-1
Taylor Townsend (USA) defeated defeated Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) 7-6 7-6
[Q] Jil Teichmann (SUI) defeated Anett Kontaveit (EST) 6-2 6-3
Coco Vandeweghe (USA) defeated [Q] Mihaela Buzarnescu (ROU) 6-4 7-5