BRISBANE, Australia: Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina continued her impressive start to the season when she demolished Croatian Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-1 in the second round of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.
Svitolina took just 64 minutes to see off Konjuh at the Pat Rafter Arena and book an enticing quarterfinal showdown with Britain’s Johanna Konta.
She was joined in the final eight by defending champion and second seed Karolina Pliskova, who took 10 minutes less to demolish American Catherine Bellis 6-1, 6-1.
Svitolina, 23, started the week as world number six but would finish it as number four if she wins the tournament.
She won five tournaments in 2017 and goes into the Australian Open as a serious contender for the year’s first Grand Slam.
She had a tough opening round win over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro but was relatively untroubled against world number 44 Konjuh.
“I’m playing well and I’m happy that I’m showing good tennis from the start of the year,” Svitolina said.
“I try to always find my good tennis out there and, you know, play well. That’s the most important thing.”
Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi, the 2012 champion, moved into the last eight with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.
Once ranked as high as 15th in the world, Kanepi is on the comeback trail after injury forced her out of the game in June 2016 for just over a year.
She reached last year’s US Open as a qualifier and had to qualify in Brisbane as well.
But her powerful serve proved too much for Tsurenko and she will now face Pliskova in the quarterfinals.
Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich booked a quarterfinal against Frenchwoman Alize Cornet when she beat Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 1-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
De Minaur delights crowd
In the men’s section, Australian teenager Alex De Minaur delighted his home fans with an inspired performance to stun fourth seed Milos Raonic and move into the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old wildcard broke the big-serving former champion three times en route to a 6-4, 6-4 upset in 94 minutes and set up a clash with American teenager Michael Mmoh.
World number 208 De Minaur put his Canadian opponent under pressure early on in the contest, grabbing a break in the third game before hanging on to take the first set.
A rusty Raonic tried to mount a comeback late in the second set but De Minaur resisted the charge of the world number 24 and pushed on for the biggest win of his career.
Mmoh, 19, earlier saved six break points and converted four of his own to upset eighth seed Mischa Zverev 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 for only his second victory on the ATP Tour.
Nick Kyrgios overcame pain in his knee to beat Australian compatriot Matthew Ebden 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-2 in his first singles match since a hip injury ended his season in October.
Kyrgios, who took a medical timeout while trailing 4-5 in the opening set, received treatment again two games later and struggled to find his feet as Ebden edged the tie-breaker.
The world number 21 hit back in the second set and pulled away in the decider to set up a clash with Alexandr Dolgopolov who beat Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos 6-1, 6-2.
“It took me a while to get used to playing a match again,” Kyrgios said after the 131-minute encounter.
“I’ve been training here for so long and training on centre court, it kind of didn’t feel like a match. The longer the match went, the better I played, the looser I got. I knew it was going to be a tough day today. He’s a tough competitor.” — Agencies
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