French Open hope Samantha Stosur is into her fifth quarter-final of the season after sweeping past Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-3 6-2 at the Madrid Masters.
Stosur needed just 72 minutes to post her 10th claycourt win from a dozen outings this year and book a clash on Friday night with either Russian Ekaterina Makarova or Czech Lucie Hradecka, both ranked outside the top 40.
Stosur’s path to the last four opened up when Hradecka upset third-seeded defending champion Petra Kvitova 6-4 6-3 in second-round action.
Makarova beat Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-4 6-4 to advance, while French Open titleholder Li Na reached the quarter-finals along with third seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who routed Sara Errani 6-0 6-1 to end the Italian’s 16-match winning streak.
Radwanska will next face Roberta Vinci following her 6-1 6-2 victory over Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium.
Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka beat Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-4 to remain on a quarter-final collision course with Radwanska.
In the men’s event, Roger Federer narrowly avoided his earliest tournament exit in two years.
Federer rallied to beat Milos Raonic 4-6 7-5 7-6 (7-4), having not been eliminated from a tournament in the second round since the 2010 Rome Masters.
The 16-times grand slam champion had to call on his wealth of experience and shotmaking abilities to survive an early scare against the world No.23 from Canada.
Rafael Nadal had an easier time in his first match on the blue clay as he beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-2 6-2.
Raonic overpowered Federer’s attempts to serve-and-volley early as he hit perfect passing shots whenever the Swiss star came forward. Raonic won 12 straight points to close out the first set, earning the decisive break in the ninth game.
Federer was on the back foot again to start the second, but the Swiss player’s serve bailed him out repeatedly, helping him save all four break points he faced in the set.
Federer secured the break he needed in the 11th game by stretching Raonic wide to send a shot into the net and then clinched the set with a soft drop shot.
Both players held serve in the decider to force the tiebreaker, where Federer led 4-1 before a number of erratic shots from the Swiss player allowed Raonic to cut it to 5-4.
But Raonic unleashed a wild forehand long to give Federer match point, and the third-ranked Swiss stroked a sublime crosscourt forehand to clinch the victory.
Unlike Federer, Nadal thrived on the surface that he criticised this week as soft and slippery, hitting six aces.
“I played much better than I expected,” Nadal said.
“The (blue) court … doesn’t make you feel comfortable. It’s difficult, hard to attack and come back to defend. You just have to try and adapt.”
Nadal will next meet Fernando Verdasco after the Spaniard defeated Alejandro Falla 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-4.