Tennis: Azarenka sweeps into Qatar quarters

DOHAWorld 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.

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.

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.

Meanwhile, Australian third seed Samantha Stosur ousted the Czech Republic's Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 6-2, but 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. (AFP)