Victoria Azarenka was due to face another former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in an intriguing Qatar Open quarter-final yesterday after seeing off WTA rising star Elina Svitolina in three sets in Doha on Wednesday.
Azarenka came good 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1 to maintain her quest for a third Qatar title after 2012 and 2013.
The unseeded Belarussian, who held a match-point at 5-4 in the second set, came across Wozniacki last in the Australian Open when she beat the Dane in the second round.
“She beat me last time in Australia, so I have to play my best, but it’s a new place, it’s a new tournament, and hopefully I can do better this time,” said Wozniacki, who advanced to the last eight after unseeded Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru retired trailing 6-1, 3-0 in their second-round clash.
Top seed Petra Kvitova was in control of her second-round clash with Jelena Jankovic at 6-1, 1-1 when the Serb had to retire with a hip problem.
Kvitova had lost her past two meetings with Jankovic.
“Our match was on a high level until she had to stop. I hope she will get better and compete again soon,” the Czech player said.
She was due to face Carla Suarez Navarro, who came through her meeting with Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, while German sixth seed Andrea Petkovic avenged her loss in Dubai last week to Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
Kvitova’s compatriot Lucie Safarova pulled off the surprise of the day, her 14 aces firing her past Russian fifth seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.
Agnieszka Radwanska, the Polish fourth seed, spoiled Flavia Penetta’s 33rd birthday celebrations, cruising past the Italian 6-1, 6-1 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Venus Williams of the US.
In the doubles, Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic won their first-round match 6-1, 6-4 against German duo Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld in just 53 minutes on Wednesday.
Krajicek and Zahlavova Strycova were due to face top seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Sania Mirza of India in the quarter-finals yesterday, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Casey Dellacqua of Australia were due to take on Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Marina Erakovic of New Zealand.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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