Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova enter Dubai quarters

Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova

Former winners Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep battled through brisk desert winds to advance into the quarter-finals of the Dubai Championships yesterday.

Second seed Kvitova outlasted American qualifier Jennifer Brady 7-5, 1-6, 6-3. Crowd favourite and third seed Halep coped with the gusty conditions the Aviation Club as she beat Lesia Tsurenko 6-3, 7-5, breaking seven times.

Ukraine's Tsurenko managed just a single point over the last three games as former No. 1 Halep demonstrated her superiority by taking a 7-0 lead in their head-to-head record.

Fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova was tested by Alison Riske, with the Czech taking more than two hours to produce a 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) victory. The 2015 finalist won a monster game late in the second set, holding for 5-5 after seven deuces plus two set points for her American opponent.

Pliskova broke a game later but dropped serve herself to force a tie-breaker; the decider ended on a first match point after Riske double-faulted. Fifth seed Angelique Kerber, a semi-finalist on her last two appearances here, lost to Hsieh Su-Wei 5-7, 6-4, 6-0.

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