Wozniacki, Kerber ousted; Wang on course

AFP

Second-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and third-ranked Angelique Kerber both lost in the third round of the Wuhan Open yesterday. Wang Qiang, however, was the sole Chinese representative in the quarterfinals as Zhang Shuai lost.

Wildcard entry Wang is having a dream run in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, after seeing of Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 7-5, 6-2. Wang had beaten Czech Karolina Pliskova, the Pan Pacific Open winner in Tokyo last week, in the second round.

Zhang’s run at the premier WTA tournament came to an end as she fell to Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 4-6, 6-4, 1-6.

Dane Wozniacki lost to Olympic champion Monica Puig 7-6 (10), 7-5, while Wimbledon champion Kerber was upset by Australia’s Ashleigh Barty 5-7, 1-6.

“I feel like we both know each other’s game very well,” said Puig, who is now 3-3 against Wozniacki. “I feel like the difference is who’s going to take their opportunities and their chances, who’s going to make or miss the shots.”

Puerto Rican Puig trailed in both sets and needed six set points to win the first set.

Barty snapped a seven-match losing streak against top-10 opponents by winning eight of the last nine games against Germany’s Kerber. She will next face Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who upset two-time champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Barty didn’t allow Kerber any momentum as she denied the world No. 3 the chance to narrow the gap on the top ranking held by Romania’s Simona Halep, who lost her opening match on Tuesday.

Barty, last year’s runner-up in Wuhan, came storming out of the blocks, taking a 3-0 lead in the first set before the German offered some resistance to make it 5-5.

It was a short-lived fightback, however, as Barty, Australia’s top-ranked player, quickly regained control to take the first set.

She began the second set even stronger, racing to a 5-0 lead as Kerber struggled to contain her unforced errors.

The Aussie wrapped up the match in just over 75 minutes.

“I feel like I’m a top-20 player,” said Barty. “Obviously we’d like to push towards top 10, but it was really important to prove to myself that the foundations we’ve set up are working.

“It’s been a really exciting year and hopefully there is a couple of big tournaments left.”

Barty, who won her first tour-level tournament this year in Nottingham, has been in fine form in Wuhan after beating Johanna Konta and Zheng Saisai in the first two rounds.

Also, Slovak Dominika Cibulkova defeated 13th-seeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (3), and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus beat American qualifier Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-3.