World number one Victoria Azarenka swept into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open with a swift demolition of Romanian Simona Halep on Thursday as Lucie Safarova claimed another top scalp.
Australian third seed Samantha Stosur also advanced, ousting the Czech Republic’s Petra Cetkovska 6-3 6-2.
Belarusian Azarenka, the Australian Open champion, won 10 games in a row on the way to beating the 63rd-ranked Halep 6-3 6-1, while Safarova, who had knocked out the second seed Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday, sent former US and French Open champion and 14th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova packing with a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory.
Kuznetsova was the 12th of the 16 seeds in the 64-player draw to crash out of the event over the first four days.
Halep produced only brief moments of brilliance to secure a break in either set, but that was not enough to quell Azarenka, who stepped up her game after trailing 3-1 in the first set and raced to victory thereafter.
“I started slow but I am glad I turned it around,” said Azarenka, the first Belarusian to win a Grand Slam tournament and take the world number one ranking.
She could have won the second set at love, but suffered a glitch in the sixth game when she was broken by the Romanian.
But Azarenka broke back in the next game to clinch the issue.
“I kept my composure,” said Azarenka, who will now meet Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the quarter-finals. Wickmayer defeated Kazakhstan’s Ksenia Pervak 6-4 6-0.
“I never played her before. It was about adjusting a little bit to her game style. I don’t think I really played the right way those first three games, four games.
“But then I started to get my rhythm more and I put more pressure on her and really focussed more on myself rather than on her game,” Azarenka added.
“She brings a lot of balls back. At the beginning I was rushing too much trying to finish the point in maybe two shots.”
Azarenka was once again asked whether being the winner of a Grand Slam title made her a more ‘legitimate’ world number one, but she shrugged off the question.
“I think you guys, it’s your job to say that, to evaluate, to give grades. Our job is to play and win matches. That’s my job,” she said.
“Whatever people say, I appreciate if I’m a legit No. 1, but I think they shouldn’t be too hard on the other girls, as well.”
Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska fought back from a break down to advance to the last eight with a 7-5 6-1 win over the USA’s Varvara Lepchenko.
Radwanska, the world number six and fourth seed in Qatar, was too strong for the Uzbek-born Lepchenko who is yet to win a WTA title after turning pro as a 15-year-old way back in 2001.
“I lost my serve in the first set and at that point the only thing I wanted was to fight back,” said Radwanska, the winner of seven titles and a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open.
“She was hitting the ball well, but I got my game together,” added Radwanska who won three games in a row after trailing 4-5 in the first set.
Israeli Shahar Peer’s quest for a first title in the Middle East ended prematurely.
Peer, whose participation in events in the Gulf has often generated a furore, was beaten 4-6 6-3 6-4 by the USA’s Christina McHale.
