Alexandra Eala ousts defending champ Leylah Fernandez in DC

Alexandra Eala ousted the defending Mubadala DC Open champion, No. 7 seed Leylah Fernandez, with a 6-2, 7-6 (1) victory to advance to the quarterfinals in Washington.

The Filipina ​competitor dropped five straight games to fall into a 5-1 second-set ‌hole before responding with five straight game wins and then a dominant tiebreaker showing against her Canadian opponent where she won the final four points.

Third-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan didn’t fall into ​the same trap, reaching the DC quarterfinals for the first time after American ​Ashlyn Krueger retired due to a right ankle injury while trailing ⁠6-3, 3-1. Osaka hit just 47% of her first serves and won just ​54.5% of her first-serve points but covered for that by winning 18 of 25 (72%) ​second-serve points and never facing a break point.

Osaka will face Elisabetta Coccioretto for a semifinal spot after the Italian outlasted No. 8 seed Emma Navarro for a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 triumph. Russia’s Liudmila ​Samsonova also reached the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of China’s Xinyu ​Wang.

The Memphis Classic

The upsets continued in second-round action, with No. 4 seed Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey ‌and No. ⁠5 seed Camila Osorio of Colombia getting knocked off, leaving just one top-five seed left standing at the Tennessee tournament.

Sonmez jumped ahead before taking a 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 defeat against the U.S.’s Elvina Kalieva. Sonmez won just 50% of her service points ​and faced a ​staggering 18 break-point chances, ⁠only managing to save 10 of them, and getting broken in the final game of both the second and third sets.

Venus Williams makes first-round exit in DC

Osorio ​fell to Russia’s Anastasia Zakharova in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. ​Osorio had ⁠all three aces in the match but also all nine double faults. She was broken to begin each of the sets and fell in a 4-0 hole in the ⁠second set.

Zakharova ​will next take on Mexico’s Renata Zarazua, who ​beat Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-4, 6-4 in the final match of the day. Katie Volynets of the United ​States beat Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.