San Jose Aug 2 (IANS) Belarusian Victoria Azarenka cruised into the quarter-finals of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic with a 6-1 6-0 victory over lucky loser Anna Blinkova.
Azarenka had been scheduled to face Spanish top seed and World No. 7 Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round of this hard-court event reports Efe..\
But Blinkova who had lost in the qualifying stage took the 2017 Wimbledon champion s spot after she withdrew from the tournament with an arm injury.
Azarenka used her outstanding return game to dominate the 101st-ranked Blinkova who won just five of her 24 second-serve points in Wednesday s lopsided 57-minute contest.
The easy victory came after Azarenka was forced to dig deep to edge Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 in the first round.
The Belarusian former No. 1 is currently ranked No. 108 and like American great Serena Williams she is trying to rediscover her highest level after a maternity-leave hiatus from the Tour last year.
Next up for Azarenka in Friday s quarter-finals will be American Danielle Collins who defeated Belarusian Vera Lapko 6-1 3-6 6-1 on Wednesday.

--IANS gau/vm