Top guns crash at Wuhan Open

WUHAN: World No 2 Caroline Wozniacki and Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber were stunned at the Wuhan Open in China on Wednesday, both suffering shock defeats at the hands of less fancied opponents.

Olympic champion Monica Puig gave herself an early birthday present, beating Caroline 7-6 (12-10), 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals.

She was joined in the last eight by in-form Ashleigh Barty, who upset World No 3 Angelique 7-5, 6-1.

The 51st-ranked Monica was more than a match for Australian Open champion Caroline, who missed an opportunity to narrow the gap at the top after World No 1 Simona Halep was knocked out on Monday.

It was the second time this year that Monica defeated Caroline, who made a solid start to the match, winning the first three games.

But the Puerto Rican Monica quickly fought her way back to win two gruelling sets, the first of which was decided through a tiebreaker.

Monica, who turned 25 yesterday, appeared unfazed by her opponent’s stature, and kept the Dane under pressure throughout with her aggressive play, especially during the tie-breaker, when control swayed between the two.“I feel like we both know each other’s game well,” said Monica, who made it to the main rounds in Wuhan through the qualifiers.“I just had to try and stay focused and be really aggressive at certain key points.”

Germany’s Angelique was downed 7-5, 6-1 by Australia’s Ashleigh, last year’s runner-up in Wuhan.

Ashleigh came storming out of the blocks, taking a 3-0 lead in the first set before the German offered some resistance to make it 5-5.

But it was a short-lived fightback as Ashleigh, Australia’s top-ranked player, quickly regained control while Angelique struggled to contain unforced errors.

The Aussie wrapped up the match in just over 75 minutes, setting up a quarter-final against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

“I feel like by far this was my best match,” said Barty, who is looking to end the 2018 season on a high.