Nurnberg, Germany (SportsNetwork.com) - Former Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki suffered a second-round upset Wednesday at the Nurnberg Cup tennis event, a final clay-court French Open tune-up.
Spain's Lara Arruabarrena outlasted the third-seeded Lisicki 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-3) in 2 hours, 26 minutes at Tennis-Club 1.FC Nurnberg.
Eighth-seeded German Carina Witthoeft avoided an upset by whipping Russian Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 6-2, while Russian qualifier Yulia Putintseva got past Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 on Day 4.
Thursday's quarterfinal matches will pit second-seeded in-form German Angelique Kerber against Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi; fourth-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci versus seventh-seeded Japanese Kurumi Nara; sixth-seeded Italian Karin Knapp against Putintseva; and Witthoeft versus Arruabarrena.
Kerber is seeking her third clay-court title of 2015, having already prevailed in Charleston and Stuttgart.
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