Coco Vandeweghe beat Simona Halep at the Stuttgart Grand Prix
World No 2 Caroline Wozniacki forced to withdraw injured from her Istanbul Cup quarter-final
Saturday 28 April 2018 11:48, UK
World No 1 Simon Halep suffered a surprise defeat to Coco Vandeweghe in the quarter-finals of the Stuttgart Grand Prix on Friday.
Vandeweghe bossed the match from the outset and needed just 74 minutes to chalk up an impressive 6-4 6-1 victory that sees her through to a semi-final with sixth seed Carolina Garcia.
Halep follows Grand Slam champions Garbine Muguruza, Angelique Kerber and Maria Sharapova in exiting the tournament early, Muguruza and Kerber were forced to retire injured while Sharapova was beaten in the first round.
But Friday was about Vandeweghe whose victory means she is through to the first clay semi-final of her WTA career.
"At one point in the first set, I wasn't even sure of the score, maybe that's the secret," said Vandeweghe who also admitted she has an eye on the Porsche 718 Boxster that goes to the tournament winner.
Garcia accounted for another high profile name, beating third seed Elina Svitolina 6-7 6-4, 6-2 to record a third successive victory where she has recovered from dropping the first set.
The other semi-final will feature Anett Kontaviet against either Karolina Pliskova or Jelena Ostapenko.
Meanwhile in Turkey, top seed Caroline Wozniacki was forced to retire from her Istanbul Cup quarter-final against Pauline Parmentier with an abdominal injury.
Wozniacki won the opening set before France's Parmentier fought back to level the contest at 4-6 6-3. Unable to continue, Australian Open champion Wozniacki conceded the match before the start of the decider.
Up next for 32-year-old Parmentier is Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu who beat Donna Vekic.
Earlier, there was another seeded departure as Svetlana Kuznetsova was beaten in three sets by Slovenia's Polona Hercog who will face Greece's Maria Sakkari in the last four.
Coverage of the ATP Barcelona Open semi-finals gets underway on Sky Sports Arena on Saturday from 12.30pm with the final on Sunday from 3pm.
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