Anastasia Potapova collected the sixth Top 10 win of her career with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over No.1 seed Ons Jabeur in the second round of the Cymbiotika San Diego Open.
"Obviously, I’m very happy because she’s a very tough opponent," Potapova said after her upset victory. "She’s one of the best in the world, there’s no doubt about this.
"She’s really tough to play because her game style is very tough, especially for me, who likes to play with the hitters. She likes to mix it up a lot, and actually I’m really proud of myself today that I was able to stay calm, focused, and just do what I gotta do."
Potapova took 1 hour and 46 minutes to upset World No.7 Jabeur and clinch a spot in the quarterfinals. In the elite eight, 27th-ranked Potapova will next play 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who defeated Katie Volynets earlier on Wednesday.
Jabeur had defeated Potapova handily in their lone previous meeting on the grass of Birmingham in 2021, but this time around it was Potapova who prevailed by converting six of her 11 break points in the encounter.
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The pair exchanged breaks twice in the early stages of the opening set, but Potapova had the final say, breaking Jabeur at love for the one-set lead after the Tunisian fired a volley long.
Jabeur served for the second set at 6-5, but she was broken for the sixth time by Potapova to set up the tiebreak. Potapova saw her 4-0 lead in the breaker slide back to 4-4, but Jabeur's ninth double fault of the day gave Potapova double match point at 6-4.
On Potapova's first match point, Jabeur sent a forehand wide, ceding the victory to the 22-year-old. Four of Potapova's six Top 10 wins have now come this season.
The No.3 seed @mariasakkari moves into the quarterfinals after Osorio retires.
— wta (@WTA) September 13, 2023
Final score: 6-3, 2-2.#SanDiegoOpen pic.twitter.com/1RqWW9EVa4
No.3 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece also advanced to the quarterfinals when Camila Osorio of Colombia retired from their match while trailing 6-3, 2-2. A right thigh injury caused Osorio to withdraw from the showdown.
"It's always very sad and unfortunate to see any athlete, any player, being injured and not being able to compete 100 percent," Sakkari said on court afterward. "She was playing great in that first set. ... I wish her all the best and a speedy recovery."
There were no breaks of serve until the penultimate game of the first set, where Sakkari moved ahead at last by 5-3. After Sakkari took the one-set lead, Osorio took a medical time-out at 2-1 in the second set. The Colombian contested only one more game after that.
No.4 seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic also made her way into the quarterfinals, defeating Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour and 40 minutes to snap a losing streak. Former World No.2 Krejcikova had lost her last four matches coming into San Diego.
In her first match of the week following her first-round bye, 2021 Roland Garros champion Krejcikova had nine aces and saved six of the seven break points she faced. Krejcikova has now won all three of her meetings with Kalinina.