Tennis: Radwanska advances to Qatar quarters

DOHA: Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska advanced to the quarter-finals of the WTA Qatar Open on Thursday when she defeated Varvara Lepchenko of the United States.

Radwanska, the world number six and fourth seed in Qatar, fought back from a break down in the first set to clinch a 7-5, 6-1 victory over the Uzbek-born Lepchenko who is yet to win a WTA title after turning pro as a 15-year-old 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 this year.

"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.

Earlier Belgian Yanina Wickmayer defeated Kazakhstan's Ksenia Pervak 6-4, 6-0 to make the last eight of the tournament which has seen 11 of the 16 seeds crash out over the first three days. (AFP)