2024 Bad Homburg Round-Up: Emma Navarro and Caroline Wozniacki deliver stellar performances to reach quarterfinals

The 2024 Bad Homburg Open determined its last quarterfinalists on Wednesday, June 26. The WTA 500 grass-court tournament saw strong performances from third seed Emma Navarro and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, both securing dominant victories.

In another match, Katerina Siniakova and second seed Liudmila Samsonova resumed their match after it was suspended yesterday with the score at 6-3, 2-2 in favor of the Czech player. However, Samsonova made a comeback today and advanced to the quarterfinals.

The day started with Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, who suffered a surprising defeat to 20-year-old Diana Shnaider (No. 47). Yastremska was confident after eliminating Mirra Andreeva (8th seed) in the opener, but she was completely dominated by Shnaider, who won 69% of her service points and faced no break points while converting 4 out of 14 break points to comfortably advance 6-2, 6-2.

Following the first match, the interrupted clash between Siniakova and Samsonova resumed, with the Czech player leading 6-3, 2-2. The previous day, both players struggled with their serves, resulting in more than half of the games ending in breaks. However, today both showed strong serves.

Upon returning to the court, neither player had a break opportunity, leading to a tiebreak where the Russian showcased her prowess to level the match 7-6(3). With momentum from the previous set, Samsonova began the third set with an early break, leading 3-0. She maintained her serve throughout the day, eventually winning the match 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-3.

The rising American continued her impressive form on grass. Despite a first-round loss at the Berlin Ladies Open last week to Siniakova, Navarro advanced comfortably this week. She defeated Peyton Stearns 6-4, 6-1 in the second round, winning 61% of the points played.

Tomorrow, Navarro will face none other than former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. The Dane overcame the inconsistent Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 25 minutes. Wozniacki secured her return to the top 100 just 10 months after her comeback to the Tour, despite a limited schedule of only a few events.

The former Australian Open champion was closely matched with the Russian in terms of first serve percentage and first serve points won, both exceeding 60%. However, the difference came in second serve points. Kudermetova won only 24% of her second serve points, compared to Wozniacki's 71%.

The day concluded with a match between Beatriz Haddad Maia and Russian Anna Blinkova. The Brazilian did not start well and suffered an early break, unable to recover against Blinkova's strong service games, losing the set 6-3. The second set was evenly matched, with Haddad Maia gaining the upper hand on her serve, but the match was suspended due to rain with the Brazilian leading 3-2.