Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka rolls into Adelaide quarters

ADELAIDE: Twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka saw off Zheng Qinwen 6-2 7-5 on Thursday to reach the Adelaide International 1 quarter-finals alongside unseeded duo Irina-Camelia Begu and Linda Noskova. China's Zheng, who was named WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2022, sent down 10 aces and 34 winners but also made 35 unforced errors at the Australian Open warm-up event.

Azarenka will next face Czech teenager Noskova, who followed up her first-round upset of Daria Kasatkina with a 6-2 6-2 win over fellow qualifier Clair Liu.

Romanian Begu reached quarters with a 6-3 6-0 upset of seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko, who made 41 unforced errors in an erratic display.

Begu won 11 straight games to overturn a 3-1 first-set deficit and wrap up the win in 73 minutes. She will take on fourth seed Veronika Kudermetova for a place in the semi-finals. Agencies