By Chris Oddo | Wednesday June 1, 2016
Kiki Bertens and Yulia Putintseva round out a quartet of unseeded women's singles quarterfinalists at Roland Garros in 2016.
Photo Source: Julian Finney/Getty
With two players ranked outside the Top 100 having reached the quarterfinals in the bottom half of the women’s singles draw, the players in the top half kept the shocker theme alive by sending two more unseeded quarterfinalists through on Wednesday.
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Kiki Bertens and Yulia Putintseva each marched through in straight sets to book their spots in the last four early on Day 11, with Bertens winning her 11th straight to send 15th-seeded Madison Keys packing while Putintseva won a straight-setter over 12th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro.
The four unseeded quarterfinalists at Roland Garros is the most since 1988.
“I'm still playing here,” Bertens said after knocking off Keys, 7-6(4) 6-3. “Yeah, it's just amazing for me.”
The Dutchwoman will move to at least a career-high ranking of 33 in the world for her efforts and could go higher if she can manage an upset over 8th-seeded Timea Bacsinzky in the quarterfinals.
Putintseva, who has yet to drop a set in her first four matches, needed to battle hard to get past Suarez Navarro, but won half of her return points and came through a tight battle to advance.
She told reporters after the match that the rain delays were particularly stressful for her because she had to move out of her hotel. She had only booked a reservation for the first week in Paris.
Putintseva reaches her first career quarterfinal at a major in her 10th appearance. She had never been past the third round at a major before.
“I think I have been always playing well,” Putintseva said on Wednesday. “It's just in last few years I had some troubles with like sometimes fitness, sometimes my game that I have to a little bit of change it in the more aggressive way. But I think it's just the moment came and now I'm playing better in this tournament. Helped to finish the season the best way. If my game is there, I think it's also gonna follow.”
The world No. 60 will have her form tested in the quarterfinals when she meets World No.1 Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. “I have nothing to lose obviously against her,” she said. “Yeah, I'm just gonna go and play. What else can I do?”
Bertens, who won the Nurnberg title as a qualifier in the week prior to Roland Garros, defeated third-seeded Angelique Kerber in the first round and has never looked back in Paris.
“I'm coming here with a lot of confidence,” she said. “I was totally ready to play, but, yeah, today I felt really good again. From the beginning I was feeling the balls pretty well.”