LAUSANNE, Switzerland - American Bernarda Pera advanced to her second quarterfinal of the season at the Ladies' Open Lausanne on Wednesday with a 6-2, 6-4 upset of No.2 seed Caroline Garcia.
The left-hander never dropped serve over the course of the 81-minute victory, as she saved all five break points against her and broke Garcia's serve three times.
Pera won the last four games of the opening set after the pair traded two holds of serve each to begin the second round match, and broke Garcia in a crucial ninth game of the second set before serving out the match to love.
"You can say I'm satisfied. I played well," Pera said after the match. "She's a tough opponent and I'm thrilled to be in the next round.
"I think she was struggling a lot with my second serve. I was able to break her a couple of times, and that's what made the difference."
Related: The 100 Club: Pera returns to roots at US Open
Despite landing less than 50 percent of her first serves in the match, Pera won 81 percent of her first serve points.
She worked around six double faults for the match, and won over 60 percent of the points played on her second delivery to boot.
The American saved all four break points she faced in the first set in its final game, as she dug out of a 0-40 hole when she served out the opener, and later erased Garcia's lone chance to break in the eighth game of the second set.
The win against the World No.22 is Pera's second-best victory in terms of ranking this season, as she beat then-World No.16 Wang Qiang en route to the semifinals of the J&T Banka Prague Open in April.
The World No.85 will next face another left-hander in lucky loser Han Xinyun of China for the first time for a spot in the semifinals.
"I feel great here. I love clay, clay is my favorite surface," the American added. "Since I got here, I've felt the ball pretty well, so I think I can do well."
