Just days after ensuring a return to the No.1 position in the WTA rankings, Angelique Kerber continued her poor 2017 season with a 6-3 6-3 defeat to Elena Vesnina in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.
The second-seeded Kerber was two games from defeat against Pauline Parmentier in the third round, but against the 14th-seeded Vesnina there was no recovery as the Russian recorded the best win of her career. Kerber won just three points on her second serve and had her serve broken five times in the match.
Vesnina’s quarterfinal opponent will be seed No.12 Venus Williams, who survived a scare against, Peng Shuai, the last remaining qualifier in the draw, coming from behind to win 3-6 6-1 6-3, hitting 40 winners to just as many unforced errors.
The first player to move into the quarterfinals was eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, with a straightforward 6-1 6-4 victory over Caroline Garcia, and her next opponent will be seed No.19 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who dispatched fifth seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 3-6 6-2.
Seventh seed Garbine Muguruza recorded a lopsided 7-6(5) 1-6 6-0 victory over tenth seed Elina Svitolina, ending the Ukrainian’s 15-match winning streak. In the quarterfinals, the Spaniard will face third-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who advanced when Timea Bacsinszky retired with a left wrist injury in their first set.
Seed No.13 Caroline Wozniacki continued her impressive year by beating ninth seed Madison Keys 6-4 6-4 and in the last eight her opponent will be seed No.28 Kristina Mladenovic, who defeated fellow in-form player Lauren Davis 6-3 6-3. (photo: Jimmie48)
