Angelique Kerber has reached the quarter-finals at the Dubai Tennis Championships for the first time by thrashing Olympic champion Monica Puig 6-2 6-3.
The top-seeded German is 3-1 against Puig, but the last time they played the Puerto Rican beat Kerber for the goal medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
“It’s always tough to play against Monica, especially after our last match,” Kerber said.
“I was really not thinking too much about our final in Rio, because it was a completely totally different match than today.”
Tenth seed and former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki survived an early scare to join Kerber in the last eight, beating Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko
Kerber, who started the season as the world No.1 before Serena Williams won the Australian Open to reclaim the top spot, will return to the highest ranking if she wins the Dubai title this week.
Kerber saved all five break points she faced against Puig, including in the final game of the first set when she trailed 0-40. In her final service game of the second set, she recovered from 15-40 to go ahead 5-3.
“I was feeling good from the first point,” Kerber said.
“I’m really happy about how I played today.”
Kerber will next take on 19-year-old Croatioan Ana Konjuh, who followed up her straight-sets wins over Australia’s Sam Stosur with another victory over a seed.
This time her victim was Russian eighth seed Elena Vesnina, who she came from a set down to beat 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4).
In a tournament where seeds have fallen rapidly, seventh-seeded Elina Svitolina scraped past America’s Christina McHale 4-6 6-4 6-3.
“Didn’t do my best but then I’m really happy that I won today,” the Ukrainian Svitolina said.
Svitolina will next face unseeded Lauren Davis of the United States, who beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 4-6 6-1 6-3.
Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska joined the exit queue when she was beaten 6-4 2-6 6-2 by Catherine Bellis, who earned her first top-10 scalp.
“It’s definitely, obviously, the biggest win of my career, and probably one of the best days of my life,” Bellis said.
