Goerges eliminates Osaka, Garcia falls to Cornet
>> CHARLESTON: Japan’s Naomi Osaka was defeated by fifth seed Julia Goerges in straight sets in the third round of t he Charleston Open on Thursday.
Osaka, the 10th seed and recently crowned Indian Wells champion, lost 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to Goerges despite holding a comfortable first-set lead over the German.
Coming off a straight-sets victory over Germany’s Laura Siegemund in the second round, Osaka looked primed to advance further when she jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the first stanza.
But Goerges combined delicate slices with strong returns as Osaka leaked errors and the German clawed back to force a tie-break before sealing the set with one of her eight aces in the match.
The 20-year-old Japanese fought to equalise the second set at 3-3, but Goerges capitalised on Osaka’s numerous unforced errors to advance to a quarter-final against third seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia.
Meanwhile France’s Alize Cornet upset her top-seeded compatriot Caroline Garcia 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final with Kiki Bertens, who defeated qualifier Fanny Stollar in straight sets.
Earlier in the day, Madison Keys defeated Italian Camila Giorgi 6-4 6-3 to set up an all-American quarter-final against Bernarda Pera while Kristyna Pliskova followed up Wednesday’s impressive win over second seed Petra Kvitova with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 upset of sixteenth-seeded Elena Vesnina.