Day of surprises

Early exit for three top-seeded players at the bett1open in Berlin (12 to 20 June): In the very first match of the day on Wednesday, Ukrainian number two seed Elina Svitolina (WTA rank 6) lost to Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 4:6, 5:7. Svitolina had won the first tournament at the bett1ACES in Berlin last year.

In the second round of 16 match of the day, third seed Bianca Andreescu (WTA rank 7) suffered an early defeat. The Canadian lost to Alizé Cornet 6-7, 5-7. "It was a good day for me today. I was able to win the important points," said the 31-year-old Frenchwoman.

But that was not enough surprises: In the last match of the day at the Steffi Graf Stadium, Madison Keys of the USA prevailed over number one seed Aryna Sabalenka in a hard-fought match after 1:56 hours. The 23-year-old Belarusian first lost the first set 4-6, but then turned the match around and won the second set 6-1. In the third and final set, Keys found her way back into the match and converted her first match point after almost two hours to win 7-5.

Only 24-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic fared better. The world number twelve and 2019 US Open semi-finalist won her round of 16 match against Croatian Petra Martic 6-3, 6-4.

On Thursday, the German number one Angelique Kerber, among others, will meet the former world number one and Australian Open winner of 2012 and 2013, Victoria Azarenka from Belarus, who had prevailed over the German Andrea Petkovic in the first round, in the round of 16 at the LTTC "Rot-Weiß" e.V. facility.