Dubai: World No. 2 Angelique Kerber did enough to stop wild card Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-3 to ease into the next round on a day that witnessed the departure of some top seeds at the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open.

Struggling at times with her serve and returns, Kerber had enough in her game to get past her fellow German in 78 minutes and set up a tantalising Olympic final rematch against Monica Puig from Puerto Rico.

Knowing full well that only an appearance in the final on Saturday can assure her of the world number one ranking, Kerber stayed cautious at times against wild-card Barthel, just back on tour after an injury-ridden 2016.

“I am happy with the way I have played tonight. I need a few more matches and we will see how far we can go,” Kerber said.

Kerber was outlasted by Puig in the fight for the singles gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games last summer. “Tomorrow it will be a completely different match against Monica [Puig], and I will give off my best for sure,” she added.

Earlier in the day, with rain and cloudy weather playing a major role, it was a procession out of the competition for some of the top players.

It all started with third seed Dominika Cibulkova getting knocked out 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 by Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, followed by fifth-seed Garbine Muguruza’s retirement while trailing Kateryna Bondarenko 1-4 — and Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic sent packing second seed and last weekend’s Qatar Open champion Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-4.

However, Olympic champion Puig continued her march on the third day with a hard-fought 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win over last year’s semi-finalist Caroline Garcia, while former champion and No. 4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska got the better of qualifier Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-2. Also advancing to the third round was former world number one and Dubai winner Caroline Wozniacki, seeded No. 10 here, with an effortless 6-4, 6-2 win over Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic to earn the right to meet Bondarenko.

“I’m happy to be through, it wasn’t an easy match, but each win is good for me and it’s good to make the third round here in Dubai,” Wozniacki said later.

“I don’t think I’ve played Kateryna [Bondarenko] before, or if I have it was a long time ago. She’s playing well at the moment, she plays fast tennis and is powerful from both sides, so it’s going to be a tough match,” she added.

The match of the day was wild-card Shuai Peng’s 6-3, 6-2 win against ninth seed Barbora Strycova to meet Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova. Strycova joined an exit list that had already seen the departure of No. 11 CoCo Vandeweghe, No. 13 Kiki Bertens, No. 14 Anastasia Pavyluchenkova, No. 15 Caroline Garcia, No. 16 Roberta Vinci and No. 17 Yulia Putintseva during the previous two days.

 

 

 

RESULTS

Ekaterina Makarova bt Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Monica Puig bt Caroline Garcia 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; Elena Vesnina bt Misaki Doi 6-2, 7-5; Catherine Bellis bt Laura Siegemund 7-5, 7-6 (3); Qiang Wang bt Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-1; Agnieszka Radwanska bt Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-2; Kateryna Bondarenko bt Garbine Muguruza 4-1 (retd.); Ana Konjuh bt Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-3; Lauren Davis bt Kristyna Pliskova 1-6, 6-1, 6-3; Caroline Wozniacki bt Viktorija Golubic 6-4, 6-2; Christina McHale bt Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-4; Kristina Mladenovic bt Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-4; Anastasija Sevastova bt Alison Riske 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2; Shuai Peng bt Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-2; Angelique Kerber bt Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-3.

(Doubles) Abigail Spears/Katarina Srebotnik bt Lyudmyla Kichenok/Nadiia Kichenok 6-2, 6-3; Gabriela Dobrowski/Jelena Ostapenko bt Darija Jurak/Anastasia Rodionova 7-6 (6), 6-1; Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina bt Andreja Klepac/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 7-6 (5); Yung-Jan Chan/Martina Hingis bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Kveta Peschke 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (12); Hao-Ching Chan/Yaroslava Shvedova bt Elise Mertens/Aleksandrina Naydenova 6-2, 6-4.