Former winners Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep battled through brisk desert winds to advance into the quarter-finals of the Dubai Championships on Wednesday.
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 Halep demonstrated her superiority.
Karolina Pliskova was tested by Alison Riske, with the Czech taking more than two hours to produce a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) victory.
The results: Third round: Petra Kvitova bt Jennifer Brady 7-5, 1-6, 6-3; Simona Halep bt Lesia Tsurenko 6-3, 7-5; Victoria Kuzmova bt Sofia Kenin 1-6, 7-5, 6-2; Karolina Pliskova bt Alison Riske 7-6(3), 7-6(5); Hsieh Su-Wei bt Angelique Kerber 5-7, 6-4, 6-0; Carla Suarez Navarro bt Kristina Mladenovic 7-5, 7-5.
