 |
| Victoria Azarenka (R) of Belarus greets Elena Vesnina of Russia after their women's singles 4th round match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 21, 2013. Victoria Azarenka won the match 2-0.(Xinhua/Chen Xiaowei) |
MELBOURNE, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Victoria Azarenka strolled into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open here on Monday with an easy win over unseeded Russian Elena Vesnina.
The world No.1 triumphed 6-1, 6-1 to book a meeting with Svetlana Kuznetsova, who knocked out 10th seed and former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki.
The top-seeded Belarusian lost her serve in the opening game of the second set but she still strolled through in 57 minutes.
Azarenka had become the first of the top four seeds to drop a set at Melbourne Park this year in the third round against an injury-hampered Jamie Hampton.
Azarenka, who beat Maria Sharapova in last year's final, needs to win again to have any chance of remaining world number one with Sharapova and Serena Williams breathing down her neck.
"The top battles are starting now," she said. "I'm really excited to be so far in the tournament again."
|
