Muguruza still firing

In Kitzbuhel the men are still playing on clay, while the sane tennis players have opted for hard court tournaments in Washington (ATP and WTA), Stanford (WTA) and Los Cabos (ATP).

No sign of Nadal, Federer, Murray, Karolina Pliskova or Kerber.

However Simona Halep, the world number two, is competing in Washington and has made it through to the quarter finals where she will meet seventh seed Ekaterina Makarova.

The depth of the field isn't that strong, with Kristina Mladenovic the only other top twenty player, and she has been ousted by Canadian Bianca Andreescu, ranked 167, in the second round.

The other quarter finals are:

Sabine Lisicki v Oceane Dodin (5)

Monica Niculescu (6) v Julia Goerges (4)

Andrea Petkovic v Bianca Andreescu 

All of the men's quarter final spots have been filled from a strong field including four top ten and eight top twenty players.

Top seed Dominic Thiem exited via Kevin Anderson (15) in the third round, leaving the South African to play Indian qualifier Yuki Bhambri, ranked 200 in the world.  Bhambri had knocked sixth seed Gael Monfils out of the event in the second round.

Daniil Medvedev will take on Alexander Zverev (5) while another unseeded player, Tommy Paul, will battle Kei Nishikori (2) after the Japanese star defeated Juan Martin del Potro  (13) and Paul dismissed Gilles Muller (11).

The best quarter final on paper is that between Canadian Milos Raonic (3) and American Jack Sock (8).

No guessing for which player the fans will cheering.

Stanford is a great tournament for the seeds with each of the top eight progressing to the quarters where the line up is:

Garbine Muguruza (1) v Ana Konjuh (5)

Madison Keys (3) v Lesia Tsurenko (7)

Coco Vandeweghe (6) v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (4)

Catherine Bellis (8) v Petra Kvitova (2)

Maria Sharapova's comeback continues to stall with an injury forcing her out of even starting her second round match with Tsurenko.

In Muguruza's only match she asserted herself in the same manner seen throughout her Wimbledon campaign, and she appears hell-bent on continuing her charge.

Los Cabos has seen top seed Tomas Berdych through to the semi finals, defeating seventh seed Adrian Mannarino who had lost a mere eight games in his previous two matches.

Australian wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis won a battle of two young guns, beating American teenager Taylor Fritz in straight sets to move into the Berdych semi.

Fritz had taken out third seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the second round, but after a tie break first set, was unable to counter the return of the Australian in set two.

The other Los Cabos semi final will be a clash between American second seed Sam Querrey and unseeded Damir Dzumhur.

On the Kitzbuhel clay the two semi finals will be:

Sebastian Ofner v Joao Sousa

Philipp Kohlschreiber v Fabio Fognini (2)

Ofner, ranked 157, and offered a wild card to enter the draw, defeated top seed Pablo Cuevas and Sousa ousted third seed Paolo Lorenzi, both in second round matches.

The seeds had been given first round byes, so they obviously were of no assistance.