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The top three seeds at the Cleveland Open crashed out in the second round on Wednesday. Earlier, before the start of the day’s play, second seed Martina Trevisan withdrew from the tournament, giving her opponent, Shuai Zhang a walkover into the quarters.
Zhang will take on Alize Cornet next. Meanwhile, Americans Bernarda Pera and Madison Brengle defeated the no. 1 seed Barbora Krejcikova and the no. 3 seed, Ekaterina Alexandrova respectively, in their round-of-16 matches.
Cleveland Open: Quite a day for the seeded entrants
Pera needed an hour and 27 minutes to post a 6-4, 6-1 win over the Czech.
The left-hander won 71% of her first-serve points to Krejcikova’s 69%. However, where Krejcikova won merely 38% of her second-serve points, Pera won 78% off her second serves. Throughout the match, Pera didn’t face any break point while converting four of the nine break points that came her way on Krejcikova’s serve.
Looking to reach the semi-finals, Pera will take on fellow American, Sofia Kenin. Brengle, on the other hand, came from a set down after two hours and six minutes of play to oust Alexandrova. Brengle prevailed 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.
Both players struggled with their game and in the end, it came down to who was able to hold on longer as compared to her opponent. Brengle couldn’t save any of the eight break points she faced but converted nine of the 16 break points that she had on Alexandrova’s serve.
She finished the match with 96 points to Alexandrova’s 90. Lastly, Liudmila Samsonova also reached the quarter-finals of the Cleveland Open. Samsonova defeated Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-1 in an hour and 14 minutes. Siegemund put in 74% of her first serves but was able to win only 49% points behind them.
In comparison, Samsonova’s first-serve was at 59% but she won 86% points off her first serves. Five breaks of Siegemund’s serve also allowed Samsonova to ensure the contest turned out in her favour.