Friday was near perfect weather for the singles quarters and the doubles final. American Cici Bellis took on top seed Yanina Wickmayer. And Nicole Gibbs played Tatjana Maria. Under the radar a bit, American Jennifer Brady came thru in straight sets against Russian Marina Melnikova, 6-2, 7-5. I plan to catch more of Jennifer Saturday in the semis.
Lastly, Maria Sakkari of Greece defeated American Samantha Crawford, 6-1, 6-7, 2-6. Despite the loss, Crawford smiled when we spoke post match. Reflecting on the loss, she acknowledged that her opponent did a good job keeping balls out of her strike zone and she had trouble returning her kick-serve.