EASTBOURNE: Caroline Wozniacki reached the quarter-finals of the Eastbourne International on Wednesday with a 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-1 win over fellow former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
But 2014 Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard was facing a fitness battle ahead of the third Grand Slam event of the season next week after suffering an event-ending abdominal strain.
The ex-titleholders at Devonshire Park (Wozniacki, 2009 and Kuznetsova, 2004) were meeting for the 10th time, with second seed Wozniacki now leading the series 6-4.
But the Dane lost her way in the opening set as she let a comfortable 5-2 lead slip.
Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam winner, seized the initiative, running off five of six games to force a tiebreak after annulling a Wozniacki set point in the 12th game.
The Russian then prevailed for the early lead after seizing six set points and converting with an ace on her fourth.
Wozniacki mounted a fightback in the second set and played carefully so as not blow a 5-1 lead in the final set.
"I wanted to make sure that didn't happen again," said the former number one, recalling her first-set wobble.
"The only thing that really matters is to get the win.
"It's always a fun match against Svetlana, she's a tough player. I went all out to try and win after losing that first set."
Wozniacki will play a quarter-final against tenth seed Andrea Petkovic after the German defeated CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-4.
Belinda Bencic reached her second grass-court quarter-final of the summer, with the Swiss teenager advancing 6-4, 3-0 as Bouchard retired injured.
Bouchard, the seventh-seeded Canadian whose prospects for repeating her Wimbledon final of a year ago are looking exceedingly dim, lasted 54 minutes before calling for the trainer to treat an abdominal injury.
The Canadian could now face a fitness race before the Monday start at the All England Club.
But she vowed: "I'm going to play (Wimbledon) no matter what, even if I'm on one leg. I'll take a few days off from serving and give it a little break and see how it goes."
Bencic will now face Britain's Johanna Konta who put out Spanish 14th seed Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
"I was feeling it during the match, it just wasn't smart for me to take a risk and potentially be out for a long time," said Bouchard.
Bouchard reached three Grand Slam semi-finals in 2014 but has now lost 11 of her last 13 matches in a slump dating back to mid-March.
Bencic, meanwhile, reached the final on grass in the Netherlands 10 days ago, losing to Camila Giorgi.
She is playing Eastbourne for a second year after losing in the opening round in 2014.
In other results, ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat number eight Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-1, while Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova defeated last year's Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-1.
Comments
Comments are closed.