2020 WTA Volvo Car Open: Experience proves necessary on day four
YULIA Putintseva is the only unseeded player through to the quarter finals in this half of the draw at Charleston, while all three other predicted leaders won their way through.
Putintseva’s serve was crucial against tenth seed Belinda Bencic, with the 25-year-old Russian holding serve and keeping Bencic on the back foot throughout. But Bencic would not go down without a fight, rendering the two-set victory to a real tough battle, only losing in the tiebreakers 7-5 7-5. Putintseva’s next match-up is 13th seed Petra Kvitova, with the Czech champion pushed hard by her wildcard opponent Iga Swiatek. 18-year-old Swiatek gave back everything she got, getting a first set win on the board but was trounced in the second giving Kvitova the look-in she needed to finish the match. The marathon 6-7 6-3 7-5 match saw Kvitova head through to the next round but will need to bring it against Putintseva.
More predictably, fourth seed, Karolina Pliskova and sixth seed, Kiki Bertens both reigned supreme over their respective seeded opposition to head through with relative ease. Pliskova got off to a stellar start against Petra Martic whose fight impressed in the second set but it wasn’t enough to take the match to a third set. Bertens did not have as much as an easy time against Garbine Muguruza but made it worth her while, dropping the second set but overall consistent throughout and never really looked like losing.
Tomorrow’s matches see the second half of the draw compete for a spot in the quarter finals, with just the one entirely seeded match making for a much more even draw, as Ash Barty and Johanna Konta go head to head. Julia Goerges and Monica Puig will hope to follow up on their stellar first round wins but have respective 20-year-old opposition in Marketa Vondrousova and Dayana Yastremska to get through first.
ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:
[4] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated [15] Petra Martic (CRO) 6-0 7-5
[6] Kiki Bertens (NED) defeated [11] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) 6-2 4-6 6-4
Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) defeated [10] Belinda Bencic (SUI) 7-5 7-5
[13] Petra Kvitova (CZE) defeated [WC] Iga Swiatek (POL) 6-7 6-3 7-5