Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) and third-seeded Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) will play in the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 Brisbane International with a prize pool of 1,736,763 USD.
Victoria Azarenka eliminated Clara Burel after 2-0 (7:5, 6:2) in a match that lasted an 1:33 hours. She led 4:1 in the first set, leveled at 4:4 and won the set after a tiebreak. Victoria Azarenka again took a 4:1 lead in the second half and closed the match at 6:2.
“I tried to be aggressive, to go to the net, but she put up a strong resistance. He hit some great shots”, said Victoria Azarenka. It was in Brisbane that Azarenka won her first trophy from the WTA competitions in 2009 at the first edition of the tournament.
Jelena Ostapenko defeated Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) by 2-1 (6:2, 4:6, 6:3).
“I get angry when I miss important points. I’m angry with myself”, said Jelena Ostapenko, adding: “I’m a fighter and I really want to play perfectly. But I know nothing is ever perfect. I just am”.
The top-seeded and last year’s champion Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus), who defeated Zhu Lin (China) by 2-0 (6:1, 6:0) in just 70 minutes and also qualified for the quarterfinals. Her next opponent will be fifth-seeded Daria Kasatkina (Russia), who eliminated Magda Linette (Poland) after 2-0 (6:4, 6:2).
The second-seeded Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) prevailed over Elise Mertens (Belgium) with a convincing 2-0 (6:1, 6:0) and expects a clash in the quarterfinals with the 11th-seeded Anastasia Potapova (Russia), who defeated her compatriot Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) by 2-0 (7:5. 6:7, 6:4) in a match that lasted 3:22 hours.
Another Russian, Mirra Andreeva, also qualified for the quarterfinals. The 16-year-old tennis talent defeated Arina Rodionova (Australia) by 2-0 (6:1, 6:1) and in the next round she will face Linda Noskova (Czech Republic).
