THERE were two very different sets of results at the WTA Tour’s grass court events overnight, with the Eastbourne and Bad Homburg Round of 16s completed. In Eastbourne, just one seed survived the night – top seed Aryna Sabalenka – as the four others fell, leaving the title wide open after the Belarusian favourite. Meanwhile the four matches played at Bad Homburg resulted in all the four seeds out on court advancing, of whom were ranked in the top five players at the event.

Whilst top seed Sabalenka took care of American Alison Riske – with a whopping 10 aces to zero and 34 winners to seven – it was carnage everywhere else, with upsets left, right and centre. Estonian Anett Kontaveit had no issues upsetting third seed Bianca Andreescu 6-3 6-3, ensuring she remained seeded for the upcoming Wimbledon.

“I thought I played a really good match today,” Kontaveit said post-match. “I was consistent throughout the whole match and felt like I really kept my level up and played some good tennis.”

Meanwhile Daria Kasatkina enjoyed arguably the biggest upset of the day, stunning 2019 Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek in three sets, only dropping one game in the final two sets as she stormed to a 4-6 6-0 6-1 victory. Kasatkina stepped it up in the final two sets, continuing her grass court from which saw her reach the Birmingham final last week.

“I just found the way, how to move, how to play,” Kasatkina said post-match. “I changed a little bit the way I was playing, that was the key also. I was holding my serve well in the second and third set.”

In an all-Swiss battle, Viktorija Golubic reached the quarter finals courtesy of a straight sets win over compatriot Belinda Bencic. The underdog won 6-4 6-4 over the sixth seeded Bencic to advance to the final eight, joining Italian Camila Giorgi, and a pair of Latvians in Anastasija Sevastova and Jelena Ostapenko who caused three-set upsets over young gun American Coco Gauff and most recent WTA Tour title winner Ons Jabeur in come-from-behind victories.

Meanwhile in Germany, there were no surprises in the results with all four seeds booking their spots in the quarter finals. They were far from easy wins though, with three out of the four players needing to go the distance. Second seed Victoria Azarenka was forced to save a whopping four match points in three hours and two minutes over Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, 6-4 3-6 7-6.

Azarenka was on top early, before Cornet hit back and the pair went toe-to-toe in the deciding set tiebreaker. In the end, Azarenka fought back from match points down to win 9-7 and advance through to the next round. Similarly, top seed Petra Kvitova had to battle through three sets, dropping a second set tiebreaker to young American Ann Li, before winning 6-2 6-7 6-1 in an hour and 57 minutes.

She joined fifth seed Argentine Nadia Podoroska in the quarter finals, following Podoroska’s 7-6 2-6 6-4 victory over Patricia Maria Tig. The outlying match of the day was definitely home nation talent Angelique Kerber‘s 58-minute destruction of Anna Blinkova. The fourth seed German only dropped two games in the match as she raced to a 6-0 6-2 victory to reach the quarter finals

VIKING INTERNATIONAL EASTBOURNE ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated Alison Riske (USA) 6-1 6-4
Elena Rybakina (KAZ) defeated [2] Elina Svitolina (UKR) 6-4 7-6
Anett Kontaveit (EST) defeated [3] Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 6-3 6-3
Daria Kasatkina (RUS) defeated [4] Iga Swiatek (POL) 4-6 6-0 6-1
Viktorija Golubic (SUI) defeated [6] Belinda Bencic (SUI) 6-4 6-4
Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) defeated Coco Gauff (USA) 4-6 7-5 6-2
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) defeated Ons Jabeur (TUN) 5-7 6-4 6-3
Camila Giorgi (ITA) defeated Shelby Rogers (USA) 6-3 4-6 6-2

BAD HOMBURG OPEN ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] Petra Kvitova (CZE) defeated Ann Li (USA) 6-2 6-7 6-1
[2] Victoria Azarenka (BLR) defeated Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-4 3-6 7-6
[4] Angelique Kerber (GER) defeated Anna Blinkova (RUS) 6-0 6-2
[5] Nadia Podoroska (ARG) defeated Patricia Maria Tig (ROU) 7-6 2-6 6-4

Picture credit: WTA/Jimmie48