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The leading ladies of the WTA Tour continued their final tune-up before the Australian Open by ploughing their way through to the quarter-finals of the APIA International in Sydney. Top seeds Caroline Wozniacki and Petra Kvitova stayed on a collision course for the second week running, however, both made their way past round 2 the hard way, needing three sets to dispose of Dominika Cibulkova and Alexandra Dulgheru respectively. Third seed Victoria Azarenka had no such issues as she dominated her match with former world no.1 Jelena Jankovic. Last year's Australian Open runner-up Li Na bounced back from a set down to beat South African qualifier Chanelle Scheepers.

World no.1 Caroline Wozniacki was on the verge of an early trip to Melbourne falling 4-0 behind in the final set of her match with former Frech Open semi-finalist Dominika Cibulkova, after the pair had traded the first couple of sets. However, the 21-year old Dane showed just why she is the best player in the world, reeling off the last 6 games in a row to beat the pocket sized Slovakian dynamo 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. Up next for Wozniacki will be the no.7 seed Agnieszka Radwanska who produced a convincing 7-5, 6-4 win against popular German Andrea Petkovic.

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who beat Wozniacki en route to winning the Hopman Cup for the Czech Republic last week, was made to work for her win against Lucky Loser Alexandra Dulgheru. Dulgheru played an excellent match, landing 72% of her first serve, and winning an exact percentage of points on it. At the other end of the court, Dulgheru created many more chances on the Kvitova serve, earning 12 break points to her opponent's 5, but was unable to take her chances. Kvitova won a tight first set 7-5, before Dulgheru rallied back to ease through the second 6-3 with a double break.

However, Kvitova was back to her best in the decider, taking one of the two chances she created to break the Dulgheru serve, while dropping just 5 points in an equal number of games on her own delivery to seal the match 6-4 in the third.

Kvitova will next meet last week's Brisbane runner-up Daniela Hantuchova in the quarter-finals. Hantuchova continued her excellent run of form to beat former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in straight sets 7-5, 6-1. Schiavone had stunned local favourite Sam Stosur in the first round.

While the other big guns struggled into the last eight, third seed Victoria Azarenka faced no hiccups in securing a routine 6-4, 6-2 win against Jelena Jankovic in just 79 minutes. Jelena's first serve let her down terribly in the match, serving at under 50% for its duration, allowing Victoria a look at too many second serves which she took full toll of. Azarenka will face the no.8 seed and Hopman Cup runner-up Marion Bartoli in the quarters. The Frenchwoman was in outstanding form as she smashed past Aussie wildcard Jelena Dokic 6-0, 6-3. Dokic did not do herself any favours by serving a ridiculous 11 double faults in the match.

The last of the four quarter-finals will see reigning French Open champion and no.4 seed Li Na take on another talented Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova. Li Na needed three sets to beat South African qualifier Scheepers, while Safarova won 8 of 9 games played against former two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova before the usually energetic Russian retired due to heat exhaustion.

Singles - Second Round
(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 75 26 64
(2) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. (LL) Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) 75 36 64
(3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 64 62
(4) Li Na (CHN) d. (Q) Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 26 64 61
(7) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Andrea Petkovic (GER) 75 64
(8) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. (WC) Jelena Dokic (AUS) 60 63
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 75 61
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 61 20 retd.

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