Maria Sakkari through to German Open third round in Berlin after overcoming Alize Cornet, Caroline Garcia also through

Maria Sakkari progressed to the third round of the German Open with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Alize Cornet, gaining revenge for a surprise second-round defeat to the same opponent at Nottingham, while Caroline Garcia also won through.

Having lost 6-1 6-4 just a week ago, world No. 8 Sakkari made relatively light work of Cornet on this occasion to seal a place in the next round.

Sakkari will next play Aliaksandra Sasnovich after she beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4 6-4.

Cornet claimed the first game on her serve with a hold to 15, and Sakkari staved off three break points to level things up on her service.

The Greek was finding her flow with an impressive range of shots playing largely from the baseline, and broke Cornet for the first time to move 2-1 ahead.

The aggressive and physical nature of Sakkari’s play was really coming to the fore, and after holding the next game, she broke Cornet again to move 4-1 up after finishing things off with a well-executed backhand.

Cornet was forced into a medical timeout before Sakkari claimed the sixth game on her serve.

From 5-1 behind, Cornet reduced the deficit to 5-4 as Sakkari continued to falter with the accuracy in her return game, leaving the first set in the balance.

A topsy-turvy 10th game saw unforced errors galore and Sakkari save four break points.

Sakkari’s relief was clearly evident after finally taking the set with a forehand strike.

From that point onwards, Sakkari motored on and moved 2-0 ahead in the second set. She broke Cornet again in the first game and fought off three break points herself in the second.

World No. 60 Cornet halved the deficit on her serve, but the Greek was finding her range again to hold the next game and break Cornet to move 4-1 in front.

Cornet showed the quality of her return game to break back, but Sakkari then did the same to leave her serving for the match.

The Greek wrapped things up on her second match point after Cornet played a return long, winning the second set 6-2.

Meanwhile, third seed Garcia was another to make it through to the last eight after seeing off Australia’s Jaimee Fourlis 6-3 6-2.

Garcia was in control in both sets, taking the opener having broken early on.

It was a similar story in the second set as Garcia romped to a 5-1 lead with some classy tennis as Fourlis was unable to respond, the Frenchwoman serving it out thereafter to progress.

Earlier in the day, Marketa Vondrousova beat Bianca Andreescu 7-6(0) 7-5, while Veronika Kudermetova was a 6-4 6-2 winner against Qinwen Zheng.

The Wimbledon build-up continues in the UK too at the Birmingham Classic, where there was a convincing win for top seed Barbora Krejcikova, who saw off Cristina Bucsa 6-3 6-3 to move into the Last 16.