The outcome of Wednesday's Round 16 of WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide was quite rare and special. The matches contested in a beautiful summer weather in antipodes has not brought the elimination of any single seeded player, who arrived to tomorrow's quarterfinals in complete. The only one upset in a perspective of pre-match odds was Daria Kasatkina, who was not a favorite against Barbora Krejcikova (average odds 2.11 v 1.73) despite being second highest seed in the field (#5, but three first seeds withdrew from the tournament before the start).
The day without clear upsets does not mean, that it was no interesting action on the courts. Day session started with interesting matches: Petra Kvitova vs Qinwen Zheng and Danielle Collins vs Jil Teichmann. Both matches were quite eventful. A lot happened in the duel between Kvitova and Zheng, despite the fact, that match lasted just for the one set. Zheng was the first one to break, having a chance to serve out the set on her account with a score 5-4. Kvitova broke back easily, but faced a trouble again, losing 11th game. Zheng did not capitalize her second chance to close the set, losing second consecutve service break to 15. The third chance for Chinese showed up in tiebreak, when Zheng worked out a comfortable 6-3 lead. That not discouraged Kvitova who won 5 points in a row and clinched the first set, which was looking as unwinnable for the Grand Slam champion from Czech Republic. Second set fell through, as Zheng withdrew due to a left thigh injury. The time is running up for Zheng, who suffered a lot of fatigue during her Adelaide campaign, just a few days before the start of Australian Open.
Danielle Collins showed absolutely stunning performance against Jil Teichmann. "Danimal" was a dominant player throught whole the match, playing with high confidence, hitting delightful winners and being brave with her aggresive playing style even during a couple of trouble points. Collins grabbed the first set and was looking like an unplayable today, but Teichmann managed to utilize a weak service game of the American, moving into the lead in 2nd set. It has not discouraged Danielle, who was looking really relaxed and comfortable on the court, breaking the Swiss twice and staying in front of a chance to close out the match. That not happened in service game of Collins within a 5-3 score, but the real chances showed up in 10th game. Collins created 5 match points, but Teichmann defended all of them. Second set was decided in tie-break, but well disposed Danimal was not embarrassed with the previous MPs wastes, playing a brilliant final game and reaching the first quarterfinal in 2023. With this kind of form, and looking free of health troubles, it can be first of many, for sure. QF opponent of Collins will be Veronika Kudermetova who had a day-off today, as Ekaterina Alexandrova did not play due to an injury.
Paula Badosa confirmed her good form from yesterday's hit match against Anett Kontaveit, defeating another Estonian player today with a 6-1 7-5 win against Kaia Kanepi. Badosa will face Beatriz Haddad Maia in the quarterfinal. The Brazilian won 6-4 7-5 with Amanda Anisimova, the lucky loser from qualifying.
Top seed of the tournament - Caroline Garcia, started her week today (bye in R1) with the only one three-setter of the day against Katerina Siniakova. 2022 WTA Finals winner started pretty solid with 5-0 lead in first set, closing it up with a score 6-3. French player had a chance to break Siniakova again in 7th game of 2nd set, which could set up the road to a straight set win, but did not convert her chances and allowed the Czech to break in next game, which effected with going into distance. Final set started with 3-0 lead for Garcia, but Siniakova fought back in the middle of set. Decisive moments worked on Garcia's side, while she broke Siniakova in 12th game and won this really exciting and tight match. She will face Belinda Bencic tomorrow. The Swiss defeated Anna Kalinskaya 6-3 6-3.
Gameplan for tomorrow is extremely impressive. It's the first time since 2017 (Stanford Classic), when WTA tournament has a quarterfinals field stacked with all the top seeds. This time, all the players are top 20 members, which makes tomorrow's day in Adelaide a true tennis festivity.
Caroline Garcia (4) vs Belinda Bencic (8)
Danielle Collins (10) vs Veronika Kudermetova (6)
Beatriz Haddad Maia (11) vs Paula Badosa (9)
Petra Kvitova (12) vs Daria Kasatkina (5)
