St Petersburg: World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, fresh off her Australian Open victory, dropped just one game in a dominant performance to beat Russian youngster Anastasia Potapova at the St Petersburg Ladies’ Trophy tennis tournament here, Thursday evening.
The 27-year-old Dane picked up a 6-0, 6-1 victory to set-up a quarterfinal clash with another young Russian Daria Kasatkina, who defeated France’s Alize Cornet earlier 6-2, 6-1
Potapova fired 17 winners to Wozniacki’s 16 but was undone by her unforced errors, hitting 31 during the match. Wozniacki created 21 chances to break her 16-year-old opponent’s serve and converted seven times to seal the win in 67 minutes.
“I had to be well prepared for today’s (Thursday) match against a former junior Wimbledon champion even though she’s still so young,” Wozniacki said. “Kasatkina is a great player, she mixes up the pace a lot. It’s going to be difficult but I‘m excited for it.”
Earlier in the day, defending champion Kristina Mladenovic finally had a singles result in 2018 to celebrate as she defeated Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4 to also book a last eight berth.
“What can I say? I come in here, and from the first moment, I was super happy, and kind of proud, and having very positive vibes,” the Frenchwoman, who ended her 15-match losing streak, said.
Fifth seed Julia Goerges also marched on to the last-eight on her debut in the tournament after overcoming Italian qualifier Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-0.
At a glance
Caroline Wozniacki bt Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-1
Daria Kasatkina bt Alize Cornet earlier 6-2, 6-1
Kristina Mladenovic bt Dominica Cibulkova 6-4, 6-4
Julia Georges bt Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-4
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