Australian No.1 Ashleigh Barty and John Millman have both tumbled out of the quarter-finals of Eastbourne tournament in the UK.
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki had no problems in dealing with Barty as the Dane advanced with a 6-4 6-3 triumph at the Wimbledon warm up tournament on Thursday.
Barty handed Wozniacki a tight opening set with a double-fault, but the 27-year-old Australian Open champion and world No.2 went on to dominate the second set and win in one hour and 19 minutes.
“It was tough, very difficult match in very difficult conditions,” Wozniacki said in her courtside interview.
“Ash is a great player and we know each other very well… I practiced with Ash early this week so I knew that it was going to be very tough.”
“The wind didn’t help, it was swirling out there. It was so difficult to feel where the ball was going to go… I did my best and tried to stay aggressive.”
In the semi-finals Wozniacki will play fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber, who prevailed over Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-7 (3) 7-6 (3).
Australian John Millman also failed to overcome his quarterfinal opponent, fourth-seeded Italian Marco Cecchinato, despite winning the first set.
Cecchinato came back to win the match 5-7 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 55 minutes to become the only seeded male player left in the tournament.
Second-seeded Kyle Edmund lost 5-7 6-3 6-1 to Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan.
Kukushkin will face Mischa Zverev in the semifinals after the German’s surprise 6-3 6-3 victory over third-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada.
Slovakian Lukas Lacko, who knocked out top-seeded Diego Schwartzman in the second round on Wednesday, comfortably dispatched British No. 2 Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4.
There were also surprises in the women’s draw as defending champion Karolina Pliskova was upset by Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
The second-seeded Czech player, who has reached the final in the past two years, lost 6-3 2-6 7-6 (5) in 2 hours, 12 minutes.
It was Sabalenka’s first win over a top-10 player.
Sabalenka will face 2008 champion Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals after the Pole eased past fifth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 7-5.
