Defending champion Anabel Medina Garrigues was eliminated in the second round of the Grand Prix Sar, losing 6-3, 6-2 to Laura Pous Tio in an all-Spanish match.
Anabel Medina Garrigues
No. 5 Angelique Kerber of Germany also reached the quarterfinals by beating Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 6-2. Alize Cornet of France, Czech player Renata Voracova and Romania’s Simona Halep also advanced
Pous Tio will play No. 7 Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, who beat Claire De Gubernatis of France 6-2, 6-4.
The third-seeded Medina Garrigues, who won her ninth career title at Fez last year, faced 16 break points and lost her serve seven times to Pous Tio, a qualifier ranked 192nd in the world.
Top-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain retired from her match Wednesday when she was leading 6-5 against Britain’s Anne Keothavong, and No. 2 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland struggled to beat Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.The tournament is the only WTA Tour stop in Africa.
Anabel Medina Garrigues
