“That’s one where I was looking to improve, to put the pressure on my opponent, especially on her second serve”, Garcia said after the match.
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In Thursday’s quarter-final, Brengle will meet Sara Errani, the player she beat in the 2013 Dubai final, while Ana Ivanovic, who knocked out top seed and defending champion Simona Halep, will take on Barbora Strycova.
Errani fought from 1-4 down in the final set after starting off poorly by dropping the first to world No. 60 Brengle. Brengle fell apart from that point on, losing the next five games and the match. Then, for reasons best known to her, Brengle made a decision to call her coach Julie Coin out and the consequences were dire.
Errani is experiencing the best week of her season thus far in Dubai.
“I lost this match because I slowed down in the middle of the first set, as I also felt exhausted”, admitted by the Shaanxi native who is now ranked world no. 72 by the Women’s Tennis Association.
“Just to be in the semi-final for me is an unbelievable result”.
Karolina Pliskova, who a year ago finished as runner-up to Halep, is in top form and beat Halep earlier this month as she led the Czech Republic to a Fed Cup victory over Romania.
Perhaps, the presence of the legendary Justine Henin in the stadium inspired Elina Svitolina to overcome an aggressive American who just couldn’t stop hitting the ball hard. Despite playing well at the Hopman Cup and pushing the eventual Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber to three sets in Sydney, the Ukrainian suffered a second round defeat herself in Melbourne at the hands of Naomi Osaka.
Errani will face the victor of the day’s last quarter-final between American CoCo Vandeweghe and Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
And the former junior French Open champion then clinched the match (6-4 1-6 6-2) when Vandeweghe sent a poor return to the net.
DUBAI // There will not be a single seeded player in action on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after all eight crashed out of the tournament without winning a match.
Earlier, Caroline Garcia of France reached the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Andrea Petkovic of Germany.
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The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics singles silver medalist Zheng won three qualifier matches in a row in Dubai between Saturday to Monday, along with a three-set doubles victory with her partner Xu Yifan.
