Coco Gauff, the French Open champion, was shocked in Berlin. Aryna Sabalenka advances on.

 

Aryna Sabalenka, the defeated Paris finalist, advanced to the quarterfinals on Thursday after Coco Gauff failed to clear the first hurdle on grass in Berlin, twelve days after winning her second Grand Slam championship at the French Open.

The world number one Chinese qualifier, Wang Xinyu, defeated American Gauff 6-3, 6-3 after receiving a first-round bye. In her second-round match, Sabalenka defeated Rebeka Masarova 6-2, 7-6(6).

Gauff has yet to win a trophy in a grass-court competition despite winning ten major tour titles, including the US Open in 2023 and the WTA Finals in 2024.

On the Berlin turf in 2022, Wang had lost her lone prior match to Gauff in straight sets.

After falling behind 3-1 in the second set, the 49th-ranked Chinese player won five straight games.

In the quarterfinals, she will face Paula Badosa of Spain, who is ranked 10th.

The Belarusian had to put in a lot of effort on the resumption after the 112th-ranked Swiss Masarova forced her to a tiebreak. Earlier, Sabalenka finished her match halted on Wednesday following the first set.

With the victory, Sabalenka advances to the quarterfinals, where she hopes to improve her grass-court performance before Wimbledon.

Twenty titles have been won by the 27-year-old, but none on grass.

The 11th-ranked Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who defeated Czech doubles expert Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 7-6(5), will be her opponent.

In Berlin, Sabalenka is attempting to make it to the final four for the first time in her career.

2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, who is now ranked 164th, defeated Russian 12th seed Diana Shnaider 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3 in the day's opening match in two hours and twenty minutes.

The Tunisian Ons Jabeur, whom she defeated in the Wimbledon final two years ago, will be her opponent in the round of eight.