Coco Gauff reaches first grass-court quarterfinal in Berlin

BERLIN, GAIBA: Coco Gauff reached her first grass-court quarterfinal by beating Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu 6-0, 6-4 Thursday at the Berlin Open.

The American 18-year-old, who reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open on clay this month, cruised through the first set but then had to come from a break down in the second.

Gauff made her breakthrough by making the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019 as a 15-year-old and will next face Karolina Pliskova, who reached the final at the All England Club last year.

Top-seeded Ons Jabeur saved a set point in the second-set tiebreaker before converting her fifth match point to beat qualifier Alycia Parks 6-2, 7-6 (8).

Also, Thursday, Veronika Kudermetova overcame a disappointing second set to beat defending champion Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 and clinch the last quarterfinal spot. Kudermetova had led 4-0 in the second set and then held a match point in the 10th game before Samsonova rallied.

Kudermetova will face No. 8-seeded Belinda Bencic, who beat Anna Kalinskaya 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

Maria upsets 4th-seeded Liu to advance to quarterfinals

Fourth-seeded Claire Liu was upset by Tatjana Maria 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-3 Thursday in the second round of the Veneto Open.

The 35-year-old Maria, who is ranked 109th in the world, converted her first match point when her American opponent hit a return into the net.

Maria will next face sixth-seeded Diane Parry in the quarterfinals. The Frenchwoman beat Joanne Zuger 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

Sara Errani will play Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine in another quarterfinal. Errani beat Italian compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini 6-3, 7-6 (5) and Baindl defeated Federica Di Sarra 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

The Veneto Open is taking place in Gaiba, a town of