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With the exception of defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, the seeded ladies had to stave off stiff resistance from their respective opposition in the second round to progress to the last eight stage of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. US Open champion and fourth seed Samantha Stosur found her range at the right time to quell the challenge of Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-1 in just over two hours while the 2005 finalist and eighth seed Jelena Jankovic overcame an injury in her left leg and a dogged opponent in Flavia Pennetta to fix up a quarter-final date with the Australian. Caroline Wozniacki began her bid to retain the title in fine style, disposing off Romanian qualifier Simona Halep 6-2, 6-3 and now faces fellow Dubai Duty Free Brand Ambassador Ana Ivanovic, a 6-2, 7-6 winner over Pattaya finalist Maria Kirilenko, in the quarter-finals.

After undergoing a gruelling tussle in her first round encounter, the fifth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska had to endure yet another tough battle against Israel's Shahar Peer, though this time she managed to close it out in two sets while world no 13 Sabine Lisicki avenged her recent Fed Cup loss to the spirited Czech Iveta Benesova, beating her rather comfortably 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and eighteen minutes.

Caroline Wozniacki, who is now the highest seed left in the draw after the unexpected withdrawal of Victoria Azarenka due to a left ankle injury, was in total command right throughout her match with Simona Halep. Caroline had a first serve percentage of 77 percent and broke Halep's serve on 5 occasions to cruise into the next round.

It will be interesting to see how she handles the tag of being the new 'sole favourite' when she goes up against another former world no .1 Ana Ivanovic in the quarters. Ivanovic put in a strong defensive performance against Kirilenko, saving 10 out of 14 breakpoints on her serve. Interestingly, she also holds a 2-1 head-to-head advantage over the 21 year old Wozniacki. However, a lot of water has flown under the bridge since her two wins over the Dane in 2008 with Ivanovic slipping on the WTA charts and Wozniacki charting a meteoric rise. This one could be a humdinger.

In another second round duel, Samantha Stosur finished on the same note as she had started to book a place in the quarters. After surrendering the first set rather tamely, Lucie Safarova saved all four breakpoints on her serve in the second and edged the tie-breaker 7-5 in a 69 minute long set to force a decider. The Australian though proved too good in the final set, losing 6 points on serve and breaking the Czech twice to pocket the set and the match.

In a repeat quarter-final from last year, she will lock horns against Dubai resident Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic is suffering from a muscle tear in her left leg but hasn't showed any signs of discomfort in the entire tournament yet. She had won a nail-biting three setter against Stosur last year and could once again prove to be a tough nut to crack for the fourth seeded Australian.

The fifth seed Radwanska won 22 more return points than her opponent and crucially, broke Peer six times in the clash to progress to the quarters. Though Peer did break Radwanska four times during the match and had a late surge towards the end of the second set, it was a case of too little too late for the Israeli. Awaiting her in the quarters is the big serving German Sabine Lisicki. Lisicki blended serving quality with return efficiency brilliantly, winning 76 percent of her first serve points and 63 percent of the second serve return points to beat Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova and level their career head to head at 2 apiece.

In other matches, Julia Goerges made full use of Azarenka's pullout by demolishing her replacement Casey Dellacqua 6-0, 6-2 while Hantuchova ended the campaign of giant-killer Shuai Peng.

Scores:

Singles - Second Round 
(3) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (Q) Simona Halep (ROU) 62 63 
(4) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Lucie Safarova (CZE) 61 67(5) 61 
(5) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (WC) Shahar Peer (ISR) 75 64 
(8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 64 62 
(9) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. (Q) Iveta Benesova (CZE) 63 63 
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 62 76(4) 
Julia Goerges (GER) d. (LL) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 60 62 
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Peng Shuai (CHN) 75 62