WTA Lausanne: Alize Cornet advances. Bernarda Pera topples Caroline Garcia

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The 3rd seed Alize Cornet had a great day at the office in Lausanne, toppling the Italian qualifier Jasmine Paolini 6-1, 6-1 in 54 minutes. World no. 48 lost 15 points on serve, suffering one break from the only chances given to Paolini and stealing almost 70% of the return points for six breaks from eight opportunities, controlling the scoreboard all the time to race into the last eight.

The opening set lasted for 25 minutes and Alize clinched it with three consecutive breaks, earning three of those in set number two as well to secure the place in the next round and save the energy for more demanding rivals.

The 22-year-old Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva is through to the sixth WTA quarter-final (two on all three surfaces) following a commanding 6-3, 6-2 triumph over the 7th seed Daria Gavrilova who couldn't match the pace of the younger opponent.

Serving at 70%, Natalia saved four out of six break points and grabbed more than half of the return points for five breaks, enough to keep her safe after a strong performance in both sets. A lucky loser Hinyun Han ousted Ludmila Samsonova 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 38 minutes, serving revenge for the defeat in the qualifying round at Wimbledon.

The Chinese lost serve four times but managed to overcome that deficit, taking more than half of the return points for six breaks from 14 opportunities that kept her in front of the Russian. From 4-0 down in the first set, Samsonova climbed back to 5-5 with breaks in games five and nine before getting broken once again in game 12 to hand the set to her rival.

Ludmila had a 2-0 and 3-2 advantage in set number two before Han rattled off four of the last five games to move over the top and reach the quarter-final, the sixth on the WTA level. Bernarda Pera took down the 2nd seed Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-4 in an hour and 20 minutes after a flawless performance, fending off all five break points and delivering three breaks for the fourth WTA quarter-final, the second in 2019 after Prague.

Pera served at 42% but no one could have noticed that on the court, doing everything right on both serve and return and overpowering the better-ranked opponent from the baseline to stay on the title course. The American born in Croatia clinched the opening set with a double break, saving a break chance in the eighth game of the second set to stay on the positive side of the scoreboard and stealing Garcia's serve in the very next game before sealing the deal with a hold at love.