WTA Doha
Victoria Azarenka will face another former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in an intriguing Qatar Open quarter-final 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,” said Wozniacki, who is into the last eight after unseeded Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru retired trailing 6-1, 3-0 in their second round clash.
“But it’s a new place, it’s a new tournament, and hopefully I can do better this time,” the Danish third seed added.
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 last two meetings with Jankovic and the Czech said: “Our match was on a high level until she had to stop. I hope she will get better and compete again soon.”
She now faces Carla Suarez Navarro, who came through her meeting with Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
Germany’s sixth-seed Andrea Petkovic avenged her loss in Dubai last week to Kazakh 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 last eight meeting with Venus Williams.
WTA Acapulco
World No 51 Monica Puig pulled off a huge shock by thrashing second seed Sara Errani 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday.
Errani, the 2012 and 2013 champion, had lost in straight sets in her previous meeting to the Puerto Rican, 38 places below her in the rankings, but this scoreline will still come as a surprise for the Italian.
Top seed Maria Sharapova had no problems in seeing off Colombian lucky loser Mariana Duque-Marino 6-1, 6-2 to seal her place in the quarter-finals, where she will face Magdalena Rybarikova, who hammered Elena Bogdan 6-0, 6-2 in 44 minutes.
Caroline Garcia and Timea Bacsinszky, the third and fifth seeds respectively, also came through, while there were also wins for Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Johanna Larsson and Sesil Karatantcheva.
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