Charleston, April 4 (IANS) Anna Kalinskaya staged an upset win over Australian Open champion Madison Keys to return to the quarterfinals in Charleston for the first time since 2023.
Kalinskaya was a 6-2, 6-4 winner against No. 2 seed Keys, taking advantage of an erratic performance by the World No. 5 to score her first Top 10 victory in 10 months and advance to her second quarterfinals of the season.
Kalinskaya, who peaked at a career-high ranking of No. 11 last October on the back of a 2024 season that saw her reach a WTA 1000 final in Dubai, a WTA 500 final in Berlin, and the second week of two Grand Slam events, entered Charleston at 4-7 on the season and having won back-to-back matches at just one tournament, in Singapore in February (where she retired in the semifinals), reports WTA.
Kalinskaya will next face 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who upset No. 5 seed Daria Kastkina in the nightcap, 6-3, 7-6(7).
Elsewhere, No. 1 seed Pegula defeated Ajla Tomljanovic to book a spot in her fifth quarterfinal of the season, 6-3, 6-2. The match was a far cry from the 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 semifinal that the two played in Austin last month, with Pegula winning five straight games in the middle of the match to pull away.
Pegula will will next take on defending champion Danielle Collins in the quarterfinals.
Collins, the seventh seed, overcame a slow start to oust 2017 runner-up Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, in a much-anticipated matchup on the Althea Gibson Club Court.
Down a break in the opener at 4-2, Collins, 31, held her ground to advance to the elite eight for the third time in four appearances.
Meanwhile, for the second time in four years, Yulia Putintseva saw her Charleston campaign come to an end against Amanda Anisimova. After a 6-1, 6-2 second-round loss to the American in 2022, the Kazakh baseliner again fell short on Daniel Island, this time in the Round of 16, 6-4, 6-4.
In other action, for the second time in four years, Yulia Putintseva saw her Charleston campaign come to an end against Amanda Anisimova. After a 6-1, 6-2 second-round loss to the American in 2022, the Kazakh baseliner again fell short on Daniel Island, this time in the Round of 16, 6-4, 6-4.
Anisimova, a semifinalist here in 2022, faced only one break point in the one-hour, 16-minute contest. For her efforts, she earns a matchup with local favourite Emma Navarro, who is through to the quarterfinals in her hometown for the first time after overcoming a set-and-a-break deficit against red-hot 20-year-old Ashlyn Krueger, winning, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, in two hours and eight minutes.
Third seed Zheng Qinwen of China needed two hours and 21 minutes to overcome Belgium’s Elise Mertens, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Next up for the reigning Olympic champion is ninth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who raced past Dianna Shnaider, 6-2, 6-1, in just 54 minutes.
–IANS
bc/
