ADELAIDE: Belinda Bencic came through a second-set wobble to ease into the quarter-finals of the Adelaide International 2 with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Anna Kalinskaya on Wednesday.
The Swiss world number 13 looked a class above the Russian lucky loser as she dominated the baseline rallies and romped to a 6-3 2-0 lead at the warm-up tournament for the Australian Open.
Kalinskaya hit back with two breaks of her own, however, and would have had a third for a 4-3 lead if Bencic had not successfully challenged a line call and then battled back from 40-0 down to hold.
Another break on a Kalinskaya double fault gave Bencic the chance to serve for the match and she made no mistake to set up a last-eight meeting with top seed Caroline Garcia or Katerina Siniakova.
“I thought it was a really solid match,” said Bencic. “I think I lost my focus there for a bit in the second set but I was able to regroup and close it out in two sets.
“I’m really trying to get more consistent, I feel like my game is there but sometimes I turn up to a game and I’m completely off.”
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Former French Open champion Petra Kvitova also advanced to the last eight when China’s Zheng Qinwen, who had twice served for the opening set, withdrew after losing it in a tiebreak.
American Danielle Collins, runner-up to Ash Barty at the Melbourne Park Grand Slam last year, continued her fine form in the lead-up to this year’s tournament with a 6-3 7-6(2) victory over Jil Teichmann.
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