Iga Swiatek has roared into the last-eight at the Dubai Championships with an emphatic victory over Liudmila Samsonova in just 76 minutes.
The No.1 seed was in rampant form, recording a 6-1 6-0 triumph in Wednesday’s last-16 clash, continuing a fine run after her triumph in Qatar last week.
Swiatek had only narrowly beaten Samsonova in an epic three-set encounter in the Stuttgart semi-finals last year, but was completely dominant this time around at the WTA 1000 event.
Samsonova struggled in recording a first-serve percentage of just 58.5, and Swiatek was ruthless in winning 19 of 22 points on the Russian’s second serve.
The Pole did not even have to fend off a break point in cruising to victory and will play Karolina Pliskova in the quarters as her impressive bounce-back continues following her disappointment at being beaten in the last-16 of the Australian Open.
Pliskova, a two-time grand slam finalist, battled to a 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 win over Anhelina Kalinina to reach the last eight in Dubai for the fifth time in her career.
There were also two American successes, with Madison Keys needing only 57 minutes to beat Victoria Azarenka, who appeared to be struggling with her movement, while Jessica Pegula won her first career meeting with Ana Bogdan in straight sets.
Elsewhere, 2019 winner Belinda Bencic crashed out, with Karolina Muchova, who also knocked out Maria Sakkari this week, triumphing 6-1 6-4 to book a quarter-final date with Pegula.
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