BERLIN, GAIBA: Coco Gauff reached her first grass-court quarterfinal by beating Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu 6-0, 6-4 Thursday at the Berlin Open.
The American 18-year-old, who reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open on clay this month, cruised through the first set but then had to come from a break down in the second.
Gauff made her breakthrough by making the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019 as a 15-year-old and will next face Karolina Pliskova, who reached the final at the All England Club last year.
Top-seeded Ons Jabeur saved a set point in the second-set tiebreaker before converting her fifth match point to beat qualifier Alycia Parks 6-2, 7-6 (8).
Also, Thursday, Veronika Kudermetova overcame a disappointing second set to beat defending champion Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 and clinch the last quarterfinal spot. Kudermetova had led 4-0 in the second set and then held a match point in the 10th game before Samsonova rallied.
Kudermetova will face No. 8-seeded Belinda Bencic, who beat Anna Kalinskaya 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
Maria upsets 4th-seeded Liu to advance to quarterfinals
Fourth-seeded Claire Liu was upset by Tatjana Maria 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-3 Thursday in the second round of the Veneto Open.
The 35-year-old Maria, who is ranked 109th in the world, converted her first match point when her American opponent hit a return into the net.
Maria will next face sixth-seeded Diane Parry in the quarterfinals. The Frenchwoman beat Joanne Zuger 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Sara Errani will play Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine in another quarterfinal. Errani beat Italian compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini 6-3, 7-6 (5) and Baindl defeated Federica Di Sarra 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
The Veneto Open is taking place in Gaiba, a town of less than 1,000 inhabitants — making it the smallest town in the world to host a WTA tournament.
It is the first WTA tournament played on natural grass in Italy and organizers are using former soccer fields for the courts. The host tennis club has been nicknamed “Gaibledon” in homage to Wimbledon.
