Australian Open 2011 Tennis Results, Day 8: Kim Clijsters, Vera Zvonareva Advance To Quarterfinals

Scores and highlights from Day 8 of the Australian Open 2011. The women’s quarterfinals field is set; joining Caroline Wozniacki, Francesca Schiavone, Li Na, and Andrea Petkovic will be Kim Clijsters, Vera Zvonareva, Agnieska Radwanska, and Petra Kvitova. Here’s how they got there:

• No. 2 Vera Zvonareva def. Iveta Benesova, 6-4 6-1.
The knock on Zvonareva is her total lack of wins at Grand Slam events since turning pro in 2002; she’s fallen in the finals of the past two majors and is making a strong run at a third. She takes on the tournament’s second lowest-seeded woman remaining, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, in the quarters.
• No. 3 Kim Clijsters vs. Ekaterina Makarova
Is the sunny Belgian on her way to securing a “Rafa slam” of her own? Fresh off a trophy run at Flushing Meadows, Clijsters secured her fourth-round victory in much the same fashion as she defeated upstart Alize Cornet in the third: Grind out a first-set victory in tiebreakers, then hit the afterburners. The unlucky Agnieska Radwanska is her next opponent.
• No. 12 Agnieska Radwanska def. Peng Shuai, 7-5 3-6 7-5.
That broken racquet image will follow Radwanska around for quite some time, but with just her fourth quarterfinals berth since turning pro in 2006, Radwanska’s play is beginning to overshadow her punchline. That said, she’ll really have to exert some heretofore unseen control to get past Clijsters to the semis.
• No. 25 Petra Kvitova def. No. 22 Flavia Pennetta, 3-6 6-3 6-3.
Is this the draw of the unexpected, or what? You last saw Kvitova knocking off No. 5 Samantha Stosur and sapping the home Aussie crowd of a native rooting interest; Pennetta, for her part, eliminated No. 10 Shahar Peer. The former performed a minor upset to advance to Zvonareva; where we’ll see if a third straight semis berth is in store for the 2-seed.
Stay tuned to this StoryStream for more highlights of fourth-round play on Day 8 of the 2011 Australian Open.