WTA roundup: Keys tops Pera in Charleston quarterfinals

[April 07, 2018]  Madison Keys halted Bernarda Pera's deepest WTA tournament run with a 6-2, 6-7 (5) 7-5 victory Friday at the Volvo Car Open in Charleston, S.C.

The seventh-seeded Keys took the first set in a half hour before lengthier battles in the final two sets stretched the match to two hours and 15 minutes. Pera, a 23-year-old Croatian-born left-hander, was playing in her first career WTA quarterfinal.

Ranked No. 14 in the world, Keys will take on 12th-seeded Kiki Bertens (No. 27) of the Netherlands -- who defeated Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-2, 7-5 in 100 minutes on Friday -- in the semifinals.

The other semifinal will pit fifth-seeded German Juila Goerges against eighth-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova. Goerges dispatched third-seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 6-3, while Sevastova took down Czech qualifier Kristyna Pliskova 6-4, 6-0.

Abierto GNP Seguros

Top overall seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain cruised into the semifinals by defeating Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-0 on Friday in Monterrey, Mexico.

The world's third-ranked player, Muguruza finished off the victory in just 58 minutes, delivering five aces and one double fault against zero aces and six double faults from Tomljanovic.

Muguruza will face sixth-seeded Romanian Ana Bogdan in the semifinals, after Bogdan dispatched American qualifier Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-4 on Friday.

Seventh-seeded Sachia Vickery took down second-seeded Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova 6-0, 6-3 in a speedy 73 minutes to advance to the other semifinal. Vickery will meet fourth-seeded Italian Timea Babos, who defeated fifth-seeded Puerto Rican Monica Puig 6-4, 6-2.

--Field Level Media

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.