Victoria Azarenka has given the Adelaide International quarter-finals a extra acquainted really feel, reaching the ultimate eight alongside unseeded duo Irina-Camelia Begu and Linda Noskova.
Former world No.1 Azarenka accounted for rising Chinese star Zheng Qinwen 6-2 7-5 on Thursday as she continued preparations to attempt to add a 3rd Australian Open crown later this month.
While the world No.26 performed with a gentle hand, Zheng, who’s ranked two locations decrease, delivered an erratic displaying.
The 20-year-old despatched down 10 aces to Azarenka’s one and 34 winners towards 14, however she additionally made 35 unforced errors to the Belarusian’s 10 which proved decisive.
“She’s a great talent and I feel like she’s was going to be a really, really good player,” 33-year-old Azarenka mentioned of her younger rival.
“But I felt that I stuck to my game plan pretty well.
“I used to be constant and I used to be taking my probabilities once I might.
“I was a lot more aggressive and a bit more comfortable today on the court.”
Azarenka will subsequent face Noskova after the Czech teenager downed fellow qualifier American Claire Liu 6-2 6-2, blasting 20 winners.
Romanian Begu upset No.7 seed Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 6-0 earlier within the day, steaming by way of 11 straight video games to get well from a 1-3 deficit within the first set.
The outcomes got here a day after qualifier Marta Kostyuk shocked Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina to succeed in the ultimate eight.
Ukrainian Kostyuk faces one other robust problem, taking up the winner between Tunisian high seed and world No.2 Ons Jabeur and Romanian Sorana Cirstea later Thursday.
Begu takes on fourth seed Veronika Kudermetova, who streaked to victory on Wednesday by successful the final 12 video games towards 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.
