Former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki continued to make good use of her wildcard, notching up consecutive victories for the first time since November as she defeated Ankita Raina 6-1, 7-6(4) – a satisfying revenge for the 29-year-old over an opponent who had beaten her soundly 6-3, 6-1 just three weeks ago in the Surbiton ITF W100 final qualifying round. Meanwhile, another former Top 20 player, 2009 US Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer, essayed a remarkable turnaround, saving a match point as No.16 seed Tereza Smitkova served for the match before running away with a 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-1 triumph.
Wickmayer will face the under-the-radar No.31 seed Liudmila Samsonova in the final round, after the Russian conjured up a blitz of bold winners to haul back a 1-4 tiebreak deficit and move past Kaylah McPhee 6-2, 7-6(5). Also in eyebrow-raising form were fast-rising 19-year-old No.8 seed Elena Rybakina, whose ballstriking was clean and irresistible as she took just 45 minutes to rout Richel Hogenkamp 6-3, 6-0, and Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who survived early-evening gusty conditions and a gritty Romanian compatriot Irina Bara to win a classic power-versus-defence stylistic contrast 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Three years after cracking the Top 200, 22-year-old Antonia Lottner has yet to debut inside the Top 100 – but the German has nonetheless gained a reputation as something of an upset artist, with three Top 20 upsets under her belt – two of which, Dominika Cibulkova at ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2017 and Elise Mertens at the same tournament a year later, were on grass. Lottner carried over her knack for eliminating higher-ranked players today by knocking out No.5 seed Natalia Vikhlyantseva 6-4, 6-1. No.4 seed Misaki Doi was also an upset victim, falling away 6-4, 6-2 to a free-hitting Arina Rodionova.
Final qualifying round:
[WC] Cori Gauff (USA) vs. [19] Greet Minnen (BEL)
[2] Anna Blinkova (RUS) vs. [29] Tereza Martincova (CZE)
[3] Lauren Davis (USA) vs. Kristie Ahn (USA)
Arina Rodionova (AUS) vs. Danielle Lao (USA)
Antonia Lottner (GER) vs. [30] Anna Kalinskaya (RUS)
[6) Christina McHale (USA) vs. [20] Kaja Juvan (SLO)
Jana Cepelova (USA) vs. Catherine McNally (USA)
[8] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) vs. [28] Varvara Flink (RUS)
[WC] Samantha Murray (GBR) vs. [22] Paula Badosa (ESP)
Oceane Dodin (FRA) vs. Giulia Gatto-Monticone (ITA)
Katarzyna Kawa (POL) vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse (ROU)
[12] Ysaline Bonaventure (BEL) vs. [26] Arantxa Rus (NED)
[13] Marie Bouzkova (CZE) vs. [24] Ana Bogdan (ROU)
[14] Olga Danilovic (SRB) vs. [17] Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA)
Lesley Kerkhove (NED) vs. [WC] Sabine Lisicki (GER)
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) vs. [31] Liudmila Samsonova (RUS)
