Victoria Azarenka comfortably made it through to the Australian Open quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-1 victory over Elena Vesnina.
The world number one started well, hitting the ball with power and accuracy and giving her opponent little chance of getting into a rally.
Azarenka raced into a 4-0 lead as Vesnina tried, and failed, to match her power at the bassline.
Vesnina improved as she finally got on the board, using Azarenka's own power against her with some well-timed returns.
Her confidence grew and a couple of excellent backhands gave her the lead in Azarenka's next service game. The world number one found a timely first serve though and made it 5-1.
The Russian really started to make a game of after that, letting her shots go a bit more and troubling Azarenka with clever angles. It was a case of too little too late though and Azarenka managed to take the opening set 6-1.
Vesnina confirmed her growing stature in the match, breaking Azarenka in the first game of the second set. The world number one had her serve to blame, with several double-faults in the game.
She responded though, breaking back immediately before taking a bit off her serve in order to get it in more often. It worked well and a big forehand gave Azarenka a 2-1 lead.
The world number one moved into another gear as the set went on. Dragging her opponent around the court and dispatching the ball with ease, and before long it was 4-1.
Another break, this time to love as Vesnina twice double-faulted, allowed Azarenka to serve for the match.
Vesnina chipped the ball into the net to bring up match-point, which Azarenka took at the first time of asking thanks to another unforced error.
Daniel Cross
