Antwerp, Belgium (SportsNetwork.com) – Top seeds Genie Bouchard and
Angelique Kerber were among Thursday’s second-round upset victims at the
Diamond Games tennis event.
German Mona Barthel upended the top-seeded 2014 Wimbledon runner-up
Bouchard 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, while 34-year-old qualifier and former French Open
champion Francesca Schiavone drilled the second-seeded German left-hander
Kerber 6-1, 6-1 on the indoor hardcourts at Sportpaleis Merksem.
Bouchard has now dropped her last two matches, including a quarterfinal
setback at the hands of Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open.
Meanwhile, nifty fifth-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro came from behind
in order to beat Romanian Monica Niculescu 4-6, 6-0, 6-2, fourth-seeded Czech
Lucie Safarova leveled France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-1 and sixth-seeded
former Aussie Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia held off Dutch
qualifier Indy De Vroome 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Another Day 3 upset came when Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova subdued
seventh-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-2, while eighth-seeded Czech
Karolina Pliskova avoided an upset by tackling German Annika Beck 6-3, 6-3.
Friday’s quarterfinals will pit third-seeded German Andrea Petkovic against
Cibulkova; Safarova versus Pliskova; Suarez Navarro against Schiavone; and
Barthel versus Zahlavova Strycova. Petkovic saved eight match points in her
second-round victory here on Wednesday.
The 2015 Antwerp champion will pocket $113,000.
