N. CAROLINA, August 23, 2018 (News Wires) - British number one Kyle Edmund continued his preparations for next week's US Open by reaching the quarter-finals of the Winston-Salem Open. Edmund, ranked 16 in the world, was a straight-sets winner over Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena in North Carolina. Edmund edged a tight first set by breaking Carballes Baena for 6-5 before serving it out. The 23-year-old third seed had three break points early in the second set but was unable to convert. However, at 5-5 Edmund repeated the trick from the opening set and went on to wrap up a 7-5 7-5 victory in one hour and 31 minutes. Meanwhile, number two seed Caroline Garcia survived a gruelling three-hour thriller against Aliaksandra Sasnovich to reach the quarter-finals of the Connecticut Open. After losing the opening set on a tie-break, the Frenchwoman looked to have swung the match in her favour as she levelled the scoreboard at one set apiece. But Garcia found herself in trouble in the decider, with her opponent storming to a 4-1 lead with a break point to make it 5-1. The French number two dug deep, however, and reeled off five games in a row to seal a 6-7 (2/7) 6-2 6-4 victory. Germany's Julia Goerges also overcame a scare to make it to the final eight, taking a three-set win over Dayana Yastremska in just under two and a half hours. The deciding set saw a total of five breaks of serve, with Goerges finally prevailing 6-4 3-6 6-4. Meanwhile, lucky loser Belinda Bencic seized her second chance to book a quarter-final spot. The Swiss, who lost her final-round qualifer to Yastremska, took world number one Simona Halep's place following her withdrawal through injury and also inherited her first-round bye. A 6-4 6-4 victory over Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi therefore propelled Bencic into the last eight. Number seven seed Kiki Bertens and British number one Johanna Konta both withdrew due to illness before play got under way. Konta's second-round opponent Carla Suarez Navarro was given a walkover win into the quarter-finals. But Bertens' first-round replacement Pauline Parmentier could not take advantage of her lucky break and was beaten 3-6 6-2 6-2 by Anett Kontaveit. Kontaveit will now face Monica Puig for a place in the last eight.
