London | WTA Roundup: Seeds tumble in Cleveland and Granby

Cleveland – WTA 250 Tennis in the Land presented by motorola edge

Three top seeds found themselves at the exit door in Cleveland on Wednesday, with Czech No 1 seed Barbora Krejcikova, Italian 2nd seed Martina Trevisan and 3rd-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova all eliminated from the WTA 250 event, the final tune-up for the US Open, which begins Monday in New York.

American Bernarda Pera defeated 23rd-ranked Krejcikova, 6-4 6-1, while her US compatriot Madison Brengle rallied to defeat Alexandrova, 3-6 7-5 7-5, and China’s Zhang Shuai advanced by way of a walk-over against Trevisan.

Pera has enjoyed an excellent 2022, winning her first career WTA title in Budapest and then following that up with her second at the Hamburg European Open.

The Croatian-born American is now two wins away from a third final after thrashing former French Open champion Krejcikova in straight sets to set up an enticing Last 8 clash with another former Grand Slam champion in compatriot Sofia Kenin.

Liudmila Samsonova saw off German qualifier Laura Siegemund, 6-2 6-1, and will play Poland’s Magda Linette in the quarter-finals.

Thursday’s quarter-finals will also see Zhang against 37th-ranked Alizé Cornet of France, and Brengle take on 36th-ranked Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Home favourite Rebecca Marino upset 3rd-seeded Jasmine Paolini at the WTA 250 Championnats Banque Nationale de Granby in Quebec on Wednesday

Granby – WTA 250 Championnats Banque Nationale de Granby

Some high seeds also tumbled out in Quebec at the Granby Championships where 3rd-seeded Jasmine Paolini from Italy surrendered a lead in a 3-set loss to Canada’s Rebecca Marino, while there were also defeats for 4th seed Anna Bondar from Hungary and 8th seed Czech Tereza Martincova to Germany’s Tatjana Maria and Diane Parry from France respectively.

Marino upset Paolini, 4-6 6-1 6-2, to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA 250 National Bank Championships of Granby on Wednesday night, and will next face 10th-seeded Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who got past Canadian Marina Stakusic, 6-7(3) 6-4 6-1, after 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Bucking the trend of upsets, top seed Daria Kasatkina also made it into the quarters, defeating Poland’s Magdalena Frech, 6-3 6-2 after an hour and 20 minutes of play.

Kasatkina’s serve was considerably better than in the first round, and she finished the match with just two double-faults, unlike previously.

In the quarter-finals, Kasatkina will play Nuria Parrizas Diaz from Spain.

The Spaniard, seeded 5th in the draw, took an hour and 48 minutes to complete a 6-2 6-4 win over Britain’s Harriet Dart on Tuesday.

This year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist, Tatjana Maria also reached the Last 8, upsetting Bondar, 6-3 6-2, in an hour and 22 minutes, and will face Parry next, who posted an upset of her own over Martincova, claiming a 6-3 7-6(1) win after an hour and 42 minutes of play.

Meanwhile, 9th-seeded Daria Saville of Australia breezed past Katherine Sebov, 6-1 6-0, and Xiyu Wang of China defeated Cadence Brace, 7-6 (4) 6-1, both Canadians.

Saville has continued her resurgence this year and is searching for her second WTA career title after falling short at the Citi Open in Washington when she was knocked out in the semi-final.

Continuing her strong form, the World No 73 stormed past the local wild-card Sebov in just 63 minutes, the 28-year-old breaking her opponent 6 times in 9 service games to set up her quarter-final match with Wang.

It is Saville’s 4th WTA quarter-final this season, having entered the Top 100 for the first time since 2019 after being out for nearly a year following achilles tendon surgery in 2021.

Top seed in Granby, Daria Kasatkina, bucked the trend, securing her Last 8 place with a straight sets win over Magdalena Frech in Granby