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By Tennis Now | Thursday, April 5, 2018

A pair of former finalists continued Charleston charges.

Defending champion Daria Kasatkina carved out a 6-2, 6-1 sweep of Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu scoring her eighth straight win in Charleston.

Watch: Roland Garros Rule Changes; Stephens' Reveal

Madison Keys slammed eight aces and played cleaner tennis conquering Camila Giorgi, 6-4, 6-3, in 77 minutes. 

Keys advanced to the Charleston quarterfinals for the first time since 2015 when she was tournament runner-up to Angelique Kerber.

Kasatkina raised her Charleston record to 11-1, reaching her fourth quarterfinal of the season.

The Russian No. 1 reached five quarterfinals in all of 2017.

The third-seeded Kasatkina will play Julia Goerges for a semifinal spot.

In a clash of powerful players, Goerges rallied from deficits of 14 and 3-5 defeating an emotional Naomi Osaka, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Osaka, who looked depleted on court, was tearful at times during changeovers.



Goerges used her variety to defuse Osaka reaching her second Charleston quarterfinal.

“Once she's standing and hitting the ball I'm just running around,” Goerges told Tennis Channel’s Steve Weissman afterward. “So I tried to put some different balls, some slice and drop shots, to get her out of her comfort zone and I think that was the turning point. “

Serving at 3-4, Goerges was hit with a time violation warning while waiting for ball kids to transfer balls to her end of the court.

“This is your job—not my job,” Goerges told the chair umpire.

Osaka fired a forehand down the line to break for 5-3, but that violation seemed to inspire Goerges.
B The 21st-ranked Osaka could not serve out the set.

In the tie break, Osaka slid an ace for a 3-2 lead, then she hit the wall.

It was as if the grind of a career-changing March in which Osaka won her first career title at Indian Wells then swept her tennis idol, Serena Williams, in Miami, all came crashing down on her.

The 20-year-old Osaka imploded with four wild errors in the next five points as Goerges seized set point.

Goerges slashed an ace out wide to take the set.

During a consultation with her coach, Sascha Bajin, Osaka grew tearful as Bajin tried to console her.

“Put a towel over your head and take a deep breath,” Bajin told Osaka. “Finish the match.”



Goerges reeled off eight straight points to start the second set and never looked back in raising her record to 15-5 on the season.

“I saw that her body language went a little down,” Goerges said of Osaka. “It was different than the first set. Yeah, I could see it was important for me to win the first set and get an opportunity in the second set. I got a different rhythm and it was not like the same Naomi as the first set. I'm just glad I found a way to win it as well.”

No. 7-seeded Keys  avenged her 2017 Wimbledon loss to Giorgi.

Leading 30-love in the fourth game, Giorgi imploded with a pair of double faults and forehand miscues donating the break.

Playing steady, deep drives Keys indulged the Italian's urge for implosion reeling off five straight games to go up 5-1.

Giorgi unloaded some timely forehand strikes breaking in the seventh game. After a coaching consultation from father Sergio, Giorgi took some pace off her first serve to improve a first-serve percentage that hovered in the 40s. That adjustment paid dividends as Giorgi held in the eighth game.

Banging through a battle of crosscourt backhands, Giorgi drew a stray two-hander from Keys, breaking for the second time in a row and closing the gap to 4-5.

Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport, Keys' coach, came out on the ensuing changeover urging her charge to "weather the storm" noting Giorgi was hot, but could go off just as easily.



Driving returns deep down the middle, Keys shoveled a short forehand for triple set point. Spinning a forehand pass crosscourt, Keys broke to snatch a one-set lead.

The 14th-ranked Keys will face compatriot Bernarda Pera in the quarterfinals.

World No. 101 Pera exploited 10 double faults from Sara Errani surprising the former French Open finalist, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

The victory vaults Pera into her first career WTA quarterfinal and ensures she will crack the Top 100 for the first time.


 

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