Google News WTA STUTTGART AND ISTANBUL- Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza and Roberto Vinci go through
by TALAL DAR
Tennis- Second seed Angelique Kerber and third seed Garbine Muguruza have booked their places in the Quarterfinals whereas sixth seed Roberta Vinci has reached the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.
The defending champion and crowd favourite Angelique Kerber was up against her compatriot Annika Beck. Kerber had also faced Beck in the fourth round of this year's Australian Open and had won in straight sets before going on to win the title.
This time Beck was better prepared as she took the first set 6-4. In the second set Beck broke Kerber three times, but was unable to hold any of her own service games. Kerber broke Beck five times and took the second set 6-3.
The third was like a walk in the park for Kerber as she won it 6-1 and reached the last 8. Third seed Garbine Muguruza needed only 1 hour and 17 minutes to ease past Timea Babos in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. She will face the winner of fifth seed Petra Kvitova and Monica Niculescu for a place in the Semifinals.
The longest match of the day was played between eighth seed Lucie Safarova and her compatriot Karolina Pliskova. The World No.18 Pliskova had beaten Safarova in their two meetings last year and once again she held the pressure well in first set tie-break and won it 7-4. Safarova levelled the match by taking the second set 6-4 and led 3-1 in the third set, but Pliskova broke her in next two service games to go 4-3 up.
She served for the match at 5-4 but Safarova broke back to level at 5-5. Pliskova broke her again and this time successfully served out the match, which lasted for 2 hours and 30 minutes. Another marathon encounter was played between Roberto Vinci and Ekaterina Makarova, who led the Italian 3-2 in head-to-head record, but this time Vinci edged the Russian in 3 sets 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4.
She will face German wildcard Julia Goerges, who brushed aside Alize Cornet in straight sets 6-4, 6-0. Another German Andrea Petkovic won in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 against Kristina Mladenovic and will face top seed Agnieszka Radwanska next. FULL RESULTS (3) Garbine Muguruza (Spain) DEF Timea Babos (Hungary) 6-2 6-2
(2) Angelique Kerber (Germany) DEF Annika Beck (Germany) 4-6 6-3 6-1
Monica Niculescu (Romania) DEF Caroline Garcia (France) 6-2 6-2
Andrea Petkovic (Germany) DEF Kristina Mladenovic (France) 6-2 6-4
Julia Goerges (Germany) DEF Alize Cornet (France) 6-4 6-0
Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) DEF (8) Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-5
(6) Roberta Vinci (Italy) DEF Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 7-6 (3) 4-6 6-4 ISTANBUL RESULTS ON NEXT PAGE Also Read: WTA STUTTGART AND ISTANBUL- Ana Ivanovic and Petra Kvitova reach second round