Annecy Rose Open RD2: Trio Down Seeds To Make Quarters

A trio of women caused upsets in the second round of the Annecy Rose Open on Wednesday, with England’s Grace Gear, Egypt’s Nardine Garas and Germany’s Saskia Beinhard all taking out seeded players, as they made it into the quarter finals of the competition.

Garas and Beinhard had already scored one surprise result on the opening day, before coming into the second round, again as underdogs. Meanwhile, Gear was in the 9/16 seeding bracket, but she went on to take down No.8 seed Milou van der Heijden to make the last eight.

The Englishwoman had never faced off against the Dutch No.1 on Tour, but that did not matter, as she started strongly, racing off in to a two game lead. Van der Heijden fought back to win the third game, but Gear regrouped, and took back the momentum in the fourth to book her spot in the quarter finals, where she will face England’s Jasmine Hutton, the No.4 seed.

Garas, who had already knocked out World No.48 Cristina Gomez on the first day of the tournament, got the better of Finnish No.1 Emilia Soini to make her way through to the last eight of the competition. The young Egyptian won the first two games in quick fashion before the Finn had to retired with the score at 2-0. Garas will now face No.3 seed Tinne Gilis on Thursday.

The other surprise came via German No.1 Saskia Beinhard, who secured a shock win for the second day in a row. 24 hours after beating England’s Anna Kimberley in the first round, the World No.89 defeated Czech No.1 Anna Serme, despite sitting almost 50 places below her opponent in the World Rankings. The German needed just 25 minutes, and dropped just 14 points across their three-game battle. She will now face No.2 seed Nada Abbas in the last eight.

The other quarter final will see the tournament’s top seed, Belgium’s Nele Gilis, take on the leading Frenchwoman in the event, Enora Villard, after both won their respective second round matches in under half an hour on Wednesday.

The quarter finals of the Annecy Rose Open will take place on Thursday, April 7, with the last eight battling it out for places in Friday’s semi-finals. The action will be streamed live on the club’s Facebook page.

Second Round Results: Annecy Rose Open
[1] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Marie Stephan (FRA) 3-0: 11-5, 13-11, 11-3 (29m)
[5] Enora Villard (FRA) bt Nadia Pfister (SUI) 3-0: 11-7, 13-11, 11-6 (28m)
Grace Gear (ENG) bt [8] Milou van der Heijden (NED) 3-1: 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6 (34m)
[4] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) bt Julianne Courtice (ENG) 3-2: 11-9, 7-11, 3-11, 12-10, 11-8 (56m)
[3] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt Tessa ter Sluis (NED) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-1 (22m)
Nardine Garas (EGY) bt [7] Emilia Soini (FIN) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5 retired (14m)
Saskia Beinhard (GER) bt [6] Anna Serme (CZE) 3-0: 11-6, 11-2, 11-6 (25m)
[2] Nada Abbas (EGY) bt Sarah Cardwell (AUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (24m)

Quarter Final Draw: To Be Played Thursday, April 7
[1] Nele Gilis (BEL) v [5] Enora Villard (FRA)
Grace Gear (ENG) v [4] Jasmine Hutton (ENG)
[3] Tinne Gilis (BEL) v Nardine Garas (EGY)
Saskia Beinhard (GER) v [2] Nada Abbas (EGY)