ADELAIDE : Belinda Bencic came through a second-set wobble to ease into the quarter-finals of the Adelaide International 2 with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Anna Kalinskaya on Wednesday.
The Swiss world number 13 looked a class above the Russian lucky loser as she dominated the baseline rallies and romped to a 6-3 2-0 lead at the warm-up tournament for the Australian Open.
Kalinskaya hit back with two breaks of her own, however, and would have had a third for a 4-3 lead if Bencic had not successfully challenged a line call and then battled back from 40-0 down to hold.
Another break on a Kalinskaya double fault gave Bencic the chance to serve for the match and she made no mistake to set up a last-eight meeting with top seed Caroline Garcia or Katerina Siniakova.
“I thought it was a really solid match,” said Bencic. “I think I lost my focus there for a bit in the second set but I was able to regroup and close it out in two sets.
“I’m really trying to get more consistent, I feel like my game is there but sometimes I turn up to a game and I’m completely off.”
Former French Open champion Petra Kvitova also advanced to the last eight when China’s Zheng Qinwen, who had twice served for the opening set, withdrew after losing it in a tiebreak.
American Danielle Collins, runner-up to Ash Barty at the Melbourne Park Grand Slam last year, continued her fine form in the lead-up to this year’s tournament with a 6-3 7-6(2) victory over Jil Teichmann.
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