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.
Meanwhile, India’s Sania Mirza and Russia’s Elena Vesnina crashed out of the Qatar Open after a straight-set defeat against Vera Dushevina and Shahar Peer.
The second seed Indo-Russian pair lost the second round match 4-6, 4-6 in one hour and 12 minutes to their unseeded opponents in the $2,168,40 event.
Sania is not competing in the singles event of the tournament. Last week, Sania and her Australian partner Anastasia Rodionova had won the doubles title at Pattaya Open.
It was Sania’s 13th WTA doubles title first of the season. Last season, Sania had won three titles – two with Elena and one with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. (Reuters)