EASTBOURNE - Belinda Bencic reached her second grass-court quarter-final of the summer on Wednesday, with the Swiss teenager advancing 6-4, 3-0 as opponent Eugenie Bouchard retired injured in Eastbourne. Bouchard, the seventh-seeded Canadian whose prospects for repeating her Wimbledon final of a year ago are looking exceedingly dim, lasted 54 minutes before calling for the trainer to treat an apparent abdominal injury.
The Canadian could now face a fitness race before the Monday start at the All England club. After a consultation, Bouchard retired to send Bencic into a Thursday contest against the winner from Spanish 14th seed Garbine Muguruza and Briton Johanna Konta. Bouchard reached three Grand Slam semi-finals in 2014 but has now lost 11 of her last 13 matches in a slump dating back to mid-March. Bencic, meanwhile, reached the final on grass in the Netherlands 10 days ago, losing to Camila Giorgi.
She broke Bouchard three times as the Canadian suffered at Devonshire Park. "I'm not very happy with how the match ended, I wish Eugenie well in time for Wimbledon," said the 31st-ranked winner. "But of course I'm glad to reach the quarters. I was very nervous at the start of the match and I didn't play my best today. My serve helped me out and got me some free points. In the second set I relaxed and played well. I can be very nervous sometimes but I try not to show it on court. I'm getting better now at winning the tight matches." Bencic is playing Eastbourne for a second year after losing in the opening round in 2014.
On Tuesday night, Caroline Wozniacki emerged a survivor as three of the top five seeds crashed out in the second round. The second-seeded Dane who won the pre-Wimbledon title six years ago on the English south coast, dispatched Australian Jarmila Gajdosova 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 in her opening match to move into the third round.
Wozniacki, who always appreciates the summer return to grass, has now beaten Gajdosova for a ninth times without a loss.
The holder of 23 career titles stands 33-14 on grass for her career as she opened her season on the lawns with the victory after last losing in the French Open second round. While Wozniacki was advancing.
other leading seeds were knocked out. Dominika Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open finalist, took another step in her comeback after foot surgery, winning her second match of the week as she sent Roland Garros finalist and third seed Lucie Safarova to a 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 loss.
Briton Johanna Konta extended her hometown win streak with a knockout of Russian fourth seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-4.
"I'm just happy that I was able to do that today and I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to be able to do that again," said the number 146 wild card. American Sloane Stephens eliminated Spanish clay ace Carla Suarez Navarro, seeded fifth, 6-1, 7-5. Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic knocked out holder and 12th seed Madison Keys 6-2, 6-2 while 16th seed
Samantha Stosur lost to Tsvetana Pironkova 7-5, 7-6 (7/0). Eugenie Bouchard won only her second match since mid-March after struggling to find form, earning a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 defeat of Alison Riske. The former top 10 player, now ranked 12th, has gone 2-10 over her last dozen matches as the form which took the 21-year-old to the Wimbledon title match as well as Australian Open and Roland Garros semi-finals in 2014, disappeared in 2015. There were wins for eighth seed Karolina Pliskova, number nine Agineszka Radwanska, tenth seed Andrea Petkovic and number 14 Garbine Muguruza.