Indian Wells: Fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva breezed into the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells WTA tournament with a commanding 6-3, 6-3 win against Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai on Tuesday.
Dementieva will next meet fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who crushed 11th seed Marion Bartoli of France 6-3, 6-2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
In other matches, second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark recovered from a second-set hiccup to beat Russian Nadia Petrova 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 while eighth-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur eliminated holder Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-2, 7-5.
"Today was pretty comfortable for me because she was playing like I expected her to play," Dementieva told reporters after clinching victory over Rezai in just over an hour.
"She was very aggressive, hitting some flat balls, and it was easy to get to the rhythm."
"We have played lots of times before and I knew what to expect from her, so it was not a big problem today."
Asked to assess her quarter-final match against Radwanska, Dementieva replied: "I feel like it's on my game, you know. I need really to create something. I need to go for the winner."
"It's not like I'm going on the court and I'm patient, because there's nothing to be waiting for. She doesn't make any mistakes. She moves well. She has a very smart game."
"It's going to be up to me, if I will be able to step forward, take advantage of the short ball and be aggressive the whole match."
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 09:39