Day 4 of the WTA Citi Open provided little in the way of shocks, which saw Anastasia PavlyuchenkovaEkaterina Makarova and Christina McHale all triumph in their respective match-ups.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova bt. Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-4

Belinda Bencic’s first Citi Open ended abruptly as she was brushed aside by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in just over an hour. With a spot in the quarter finals at stake, it was expected to be a close fought encounter between the pair whose only meeting previous was in Rome back in 2014, with Bencic prevailing two sets to one.

Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 40 in the world, made her intentions clear from the off, breaking Bencic twice in the first five games to take a 4-1 lead, the momentum stayed very much with the Russian who served out the set to take it 6-2. The second set was a masterclass of serving from both as there was only one break point in the whole set.

Unfortunately for Bencic however, this was vital as Pavlyuchenkova took advantage before serving out the match to love to hand Bencic just her second loss in 12 matches. Pavlyuchenkova advances to her second quarter final in as many weeks after reaching the semi-finals of Baku last week.

Ekaterina Makarova bt. Naomi Broady 6-4 7-6 (2)

Top seed Ekaterina Makarova defeated Brit Naomi Broady in two hard-fought sets in a match that saw just one break and only three break points. That break was to come in the first set and went to the Russian who went on to serve out the set.

The second set was just as close as both players held six times to take the second set to a tie-break where Makarova’s nerves of steel prevailed, taking the tie-break 7-2 to progress to the quarter finals. Coming into the match as a big underdog, Broady will be encouraged with how she stayed with Makarova for the entire match knowing that ultimately it came down to a handful of points.

Christina McHale bt. Yulia Putintseva 6-2 1-6 7-5

As with most of Putintseva’s matches, this match was full of drama with McHale emerging as the victor. The American started strong breaking in the first game of the set as well as breaking in the penultimate game before serving out the set to take it 6-2.

Never one to make a match boring, Putintseva was broke again in the first game of the second set. What happened next was unexpected as the Kazahkstani took the next six games to take the second set 6-1.

Extending her run of games to nine, Putintseva looked to have the match sewn up being 3-0 in the final set. With nerves perhaps setting in however, McHale fought back to level the set at three-all. With McHale 6-5 up, Putintseva was serving to stay in the match, and after going 40-0 up the match looked like it was to be decided by a tie-break. However McHale would then go on to win the next four points to win the match and move on to the next round.

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