Four-time champion Caroline Wozniacki had to battle past Roberta Vinci Wednesday to book her quarter-final berth at the WTA New Haven hardcourt tournament.
Denmark’s Wozniacki, seeded third this year in the US Open tune-up, saved three match points in the third-set tiebreaker en route to the 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 7/6 (9/7) win, which saw her reach the quarter-finals for the seventh time in eight appearances on the courts at Yale University.
“I just kept fighting, really,” Wozniacki said. “It could have gone either way but thankfully it went my way.”
Wozniacki next faces rising French star Caroline Garcia, who booked her quarter-final spot on Tuesday with a win over Magdalena Rybarikova.
Defending champion and second seed Petra Kvitova lined up a last-eight clash with seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.
Kvitova rallied to defeat Madison Keys 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, while Radwanska downed Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-2.
Fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova survived a tough opening set to defeat Olga Savchuk 6-4, 6-1. She next faces Lesia Tsurenko, the lucky loser who replaced injured top seed Simona Halep in the draw and advanced with a second-round win over Barbora Strycova on Tuesday.
The remaining quarter-final, set on Tuesday, will pit fourth-seeded Lucie Safarova against Dominika Cibulkova.
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