WTA Tour: Potapova defeats Gauff, faces Garcia in Stuttgart quarterfinals

Stuttgart, April 21

Anastasia Potapova scored her second win in a row over Coco Gauff to upset the No.5 seed 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

In the quarterfinals, Potpovahe will face No.4 seed Caroline Garcia, who got the better of Tatjana Maria of Germany 7-6(5), 6-4 on Friday.

Potapova had defeated the American 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-2 in a 2-hour, 32-minute third-round tilt in Miami a month ago. The former junior No.1 needed only 1 hour and 17 minutes to reprise the victory on clay and move into her fourth Hologic WTA Tour quarterfinal of 2023.

This time last year, Potapova was ranked No.122. Exactly 12 months ago, she captured her maiden tour trophy in Istanbul -- the start of a rise that sees the 22-year-old at a career-high of No.24 this week. So far this season, she has also picked up a second title in Linz and reached her second WTA 1000 quarterfinal in Miami. Her pair of wins over Gauff have doubled her career total of Top 10 wins from two to four.

In other matches, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic defeated Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) while Paula Badosa of Spain got the better of compatriot Cristiana Bucsa 6-1, 6-2 to make it to the quarterfinals.

--IANS