Wozniacki, Zvonareva survive seed cull in Qatar
Friday, 25 February 2011
DOHA, Feb 24 (AFP): Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva stayed on course for a possible title clash after they survived the cull of seeded players at the 721,000-dollar event here Wednesday.
World number one and top seed Wozniacki posted a 6-3, 6-2 win over Russian Nadia Petrova in the second round on a day when three seeded players crashed out, while the second seeded Zvonareva breezed past Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-2.
Serbian Jelena Jankovic, the fifth seed, also advanced to the last eight stage dispatching Indian star Sania Mirza 6-0, 6-1 on a day of one-sided matches.
Wozniacki gave local organisers something to cheer about with a commanding display at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex Centre court to set up a quarter-final clash with Italian Flavia Pennetta.
The Dane, who won the Dubai Open on Sunday and was given a first round bye in Qatar, hardly showed any signs of slowing down after a two-day rest as she gave 2006 winner Petrova, without a title since Quebec City in 2008, a real workout.
Italian Schiavone became the biggest casualty yet at the tournament when she was ousted by China's Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-3, while Li fared even more badly losing 6-2, 6-1 to Czech Klara Zakopalova.
The eighth-seeded Peer, who had beaten two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kusnetsova on Tuesday, was thrashed by Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-0.