World number 1 Ashleigh Barty edged past 2017 Stuttgart champion Laura Siegemund 6-0 7-5 after 84 minutes to reach the quarter finals at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Barty, who had won her previous match against Siegemund in Doha 2020, won all 24 of the first serve points and hit 19 winners.
Barty never faced a break points and converted all her three break points to take a bagel win in the first set.
Siegemund earned her first break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead with a drop volley winner. Barty got the break straight back to draw level to 2-2 with a winning lob.
Siegemund saved four break points in the sixth game to hold serve for 3-3. Barty saved a break point in the ninth game before sealing the second set 7-5 with a break in the 12th game.
Barty set up a quarter final match against either Karolina Pliskova or Jelena Ostapenko, who will meet on Thursday.
Pliskova battled past lucky loser and world number 137 Tamara Korpatch 7-5 3-6 6-3 after 2 hours and 18 minutes Plskova came back from a break down to win the opening set 7-5. She went up a break in the second set, but lost the second set from a break up, but she claimed the decider on her second match point.
Korpatch broke serve in the second game to open up a 5-2 lead. Pliskova won five consecutive games with two consecutive breaks to claim the opening set 7-5.
Pliskova went up a break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead, but Korpatch reeled off four consecutive games with two consecutive breaks to win the second set 6-3.
Pliskova raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second and sixth games, but Korpatch pulled one break back in the eighth game. Pliskova closed out the third set 6-3 on her second match point.
Korpatch peaked at world number 107 in August 2019 after reaching the semifinals in Lausanne. She came into the tournament on a seven-match losing streak dating back to Prague last August.
Pliskova will face off Jelena Ostapenko, who beat Stefanie Voegele 6-4 7-5.
“First of all, I am very happy that I am through, but other than that, I didn’t see many really good things. Maybe there were a couple of good points, but it was not the best performance. I think she was also playing a bit tricky, all of these high balls, and also still getting used to the clay. I was struggling a bit in the rallies. I thought my serve was quite OK. Maybe two games were not so good, but a lot of things have to improve until tomorrow”, said Pliskova.
Defending champion Petra Kvitova battled past Maria Sakkari 6-3 3-6 6-3 after two hours and a half. Kvitova saved 13 of the 16 break points she faced and she saved nine of the thirteen break points she faced.
Kvitova earned just a single break point at 2-1 and saved the three break points she faced to close out the first set 6-3. Sakkari got an early break in the second game of the second set to open up a 2-0 lead. Kvitova pulled back on serve at 4-3, but Sakkari converted her eighth break point with a dropshot winner in the eighth game. Sakkari held serve at 30 to claim the second set 6-3.
Kvitova broke serve in the fourth game with a backhand crosscourt winner to take a 3-1 lead. Sakkari broke straight back in the fifth game. Kvitova converted her fourth break point for 5-3 after a double fault by Sakkari and served out the match at deuce in the ninth game.
Two-time Stuttgart champion Angelique Kerber won 78% of her first serves and hit 23 winners to nine unforced errors to beat Ekaterine Gorgodze 6-2 6-2. Gorgodze committed 24 unforced errors and converted only 2 of her 10 break points.
World number 27 Anett Kontaveit has improved her win-loss record to 11-3 in Stuttgart after a 7-5 6-4 win over Sofia Kenin after 94 minutes. The Estonian player has reached the quarter finals or better in all four of her main-draw tournament appearances in Stuttgart and finished runner-up to Petra Kvitova in 2019.
Kontaveit scored the 12th win over a top 10 player in her career and the first in 2021.
