Andrea Petkovic (Darmstadt) managed a surprise coup at the start of the US hard court season at the WTA tournament in Washington D.C.. The 30-year-old beat the number two seeded US Open winner Sloane Stephens from the USA 2:6, 6:4, 6:2.
Petkovic is in the quarter-finals for the third time in the US capital. Stephens surprisingly won her first Grand Slam title in New York City last year. At the French Open 2018, the US player made the final, losing to Simona Halep.
In the last eight, Petkovic will face Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) or Nao Hibino (Japan). The world rankings-91st had won against Jamie Loeb (USA) without any problems. In 2013 Petkovic reached the final, but failed there due to the Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova. Last year she made it to the semi-finals, where she lost against her Fed Cup colleague Julia Görges (Bad Oldesloe).
Tatjana Maria (Bad Saulgau), the second German in the field, failed on Tuesday in eighth-placed Kazakh Yulia Putintseva. The first seed Caroline Wozniacki had cancelled her participation in the tournament in Washington at short notice. This makes Naomi Osaka the highest ranked player left in the main draw.
Here the single tableau in Washington