Julia Goerges defeats defending champion in Volvo Car Open quarterfinals

Julia Goerges (photo by Daniel Ward)

A somewhat flat and off-beat Daria Kasatkina showed up for the first quarterfinal of the day at the Volvo Car Open, only to face an in-form and aggressive Julia Goerges. Kasatkina, seeded 3rd at the tournament, was the defending champion. Goerges, the 5th seed, used her excellent serve and her forehand, especially her forehand passing shot, to get by Kasatkina, 6-4, 6-3. The two women are very good friends. Kasatkina also lost to Goerges in the final of last year's Kremlin Cup.

In tomorrow's semifinals, Goerges will face off against 8th seed Anastasija Sevastova, who defeated Kristyna Pliskova, 6-4, 6-0.

The other semifinal will feature 12th seed Kiki Bertens and 7th seed Madison Keys. Bertens defeated 14th seed Alize Cornet 6-2, 7-5 in the night match. In last night's feature match, Cornet upset top seed Caroline Garcia. Bertens sustained a hip injury during tonight's match. Her hip got locked, she said, but it was obviously much improved after a trainer gave her leg a good pull.

Kiki Bertens (photo by Daniel Ward)

Keys had to do some work in her quarterfinal against Bernarda Pera, but defeated her 6-2, 6-7, 7-5.

Mihaela Buzarnescu and Heather Watson defeated Raquel Atawo and Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the daytime doubles quarterfinal. In the night session, Kateryna Bondarenko and Alex Krunic defeated Nadia Kichenok and Anastasia Rodionova 6-3, 6-3.

Madison Keys (photo by Daniel Ward)

 

 

 

Anastasija Sevastova (photo by Daniel Ward)