Ana Ivanovics quality shone through as she defeated home favourite Jarmila Gajdosova to reach the WTA Brisbane International last eight.Ivanovic, the second seed, needed one hour and 23 minutes to see off the Australian wildcard 6-4 6-1 at the WTA Premier hard-court event on Wednesday. The Serbian initially encountered struggles on her own serve in the second-round clash and had to fend off three break points with the score at 4-4 in the first set. Having survived that scare, the world number seven went on to engineer a break of her own and clinch the opener. The second proved decidedly more one-sided and, after levelling at 1-1 with a marathon 12-minute hold, Ivanovic did not drop another game. She will now meet 2012 champion Kaia Kanepi in the quarter-finals, after the Estonian saw off Madison Brengle 6-3 7-6 (7-3). Seventh seed Carla Suarez Navarro dug deep to come from behind and beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 5-7 6-3 6-4. Alla Kudryavtseva, offered a lucky loser entrant due to the withdrawal of Garbine Muguruza, continued her progression by surprising world number 23 Karolina Pliskova 4-6 6-3 6-3. Pliskova started brightly, but as the match wore on she appeared to tire - perhaps in part due to her first-round match over Victoria Azarenka lasting more than three hours. Kudryavtseva - ranked 100 in the world - appeared as though she would race to victory in the decider as she opened up a 5-0 advantage. The 27-year-old twice failed to serve out the match, but a break in the ninth game ensured she will face Varvara Lepchenko for a spot in the semi-finals.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 09:00:04 +0000
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