It was a quiet night on the women’s side with only four matches being played on day three, however the matches were anything but quiet with three out of the four going to three sets.

Louisa Chirico (USA) bt. Alize Cornet (FRA) 7-5 4-6 7-6 (4)

Louisa Chirico dispatched of world number 27 Alize Cornet in a pulsating three setter to advance to her first career WTA quarter final. After beating Heather Watson in the first round, she was faced with the tough task of the enigmatic French player who has had a tough 2015 so far. The first set was closely contested as both players traded a break in the middle, however Chirico broke at 5-5 to take the initiative before serving out the first set.  One to never give up a fight, Cornet came back in the second set playing some tenacious tennis to take the second set 6-4 forcing a third and final set. With the third set starting off with three breaks of serve in a row it was evident that both players were experiencing nerves. With both players being broke three times in the final set the match was to be decided by a tie-break. The tie-break ironically started off the complete opposite of the set itself with the first seven points going the way of the server before Cornet dropped both of her service points bringing up two match points for Chirico. Missing the first match point, Chirico was not wasteful with her second, setting up an all American quarter final against Sloane Stephens who advanced by walkover as defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova withdrew with a leg injury.

 

Sam Stosur (AUS) bt. Irina Falconi (USA) 6-1 7-5

World number 21 Sam Stosur continued her impressive form, winning her seventh match in a row defeating Irina Falconi in straight sets. After a dominant win in the first round against Kristina Mladenovic, Stosur started off where she finished the last match winning the first set 6-1 in just 19 minutes. The second set was to be much closer with Falconi racing out to a 5-2 lead with the match looking to be heading towards a final set. At this point Stosur clicked back into gear winning 5 games in a row, breaking twice to take the match in straight sets. Falconi herself would have been very disappointed with how the second set went having the opportunity twice to serve for it, being broke both times. Reaching her third quarter final of the year, Stosur will be keen to progress even further on her Washington debut.

Best of the rest

Elsewhere saw two exciting three setters, the first being between American Lauren Davis and Monica Niculescu of Romania. With both players trading 6-1 sets the match went to a final set which was to be decided by a vital break for Niculescu who would end up taking the set 6-4. She will advance to face Sam Stosur in the quarter finals in what is sure to be an exciting match up. The final match of the day was between Polona Hercog and Irina Begu in what turned out to be another exciting three setter as the Romanian emerged victorious against Slovakian Hercog. Winning 3-6 7-5 6-4, the Romanian will face the victor of top seed Ekaterina Makarova against Brit Naomi Broady.