The win marked the fourth career WTA title for an in-form Stephens, who has been close to her best for almost a year after winning her maiden title in Washington last August followed by wins this year in Auckland and Acapulco.
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Monaco, the 2012 Houston victor, defeated third-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-2.
She will face American Stephens in the semi after her three-set win over 14th seed Daria Kasatkina. That match last season required Kerber to gut out two hard tiebreakers to advance.
Russian Elena Vesnina, who ousted Bencic in the second round, reached the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez. “She has played good matches and won titles, so just the experience of playing those important points helped me a little more today”.
Stephens, 23, was the seventh seed in the clay court tournament.
Sloane Stephens invited a friend to come watch her play at the Volvo Car Open. This time, Kerber relied on her steady groundstrokes and relentless returns to knock off Kucova. “But for me, there was no doubt of the quality player that Caroline is, and I guess it was just a matter of time”, Mladenovic said. She is also set to miss the Istanbul Cup tournament.
The 21-year-old Putintseva, though, dug in to pull off the upset.
Vesnina put away a shot at the net to make it 3-3 in the tiebreaker before Stephens won four of the next five points to move in front.
Putintseva jumped around after the victory, pumping her fists and celebrating. She claims $128,100 in prize money to go with 470 rankings points.
“Sometimes, it just comes down to luck”, Williams told reporters. I was just counting, I had like seven matches in singles and two in doubles, so nine matches in one week.
Third-seeded Venus Williams has been eliminated from the Volvo Car Open at Charleston, S.C. before the quarterfinals begin.
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Stephens becomes the first American to win the title since Serena Williams won back-to-back titles in 2012/13.
