China's Li Na was looking to continue her march at Indian Wells on Tuesday. The world number two facing Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak for a place in the round of eight.
Li proved too much for Wozniak whose ranking has tumbled to 241st. The Chinese pressed her opponent down the baseline. The forehand winner was just a symbol of her cool on the court. Li would win five of the first six games.
The top seed served for the set in the seventh game, while Wozniak produced one of the highest-quality shots in the match. But that couldn’t stop Li from steaming through the set in 32 minutes.
Wozniak opened the second set well with a 3-0 lead, but Li held her nerve to retake control. Although she let ten match points slip away, Li closing out the march 6-1, 6-4. She will take on 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova for a spot in the semis. It’ll be a rematch of the Australian Open final earlier this year, where Li beat the Slovak for her second grand slam title.
Another last 16 clash saw Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland taking on France’s Alize Cornet. The two players set up several long rallies in the first with Radwanska coming out the winner in the last one of the first set as she took the frame by a 7-5 scoreloine.
The Pole served for the match after taking a 5-3 lead in the second set, but was forced to fight hard to the last point. But she would close it out 7-5, 6-3 and will play former world number one Jelena Jankovic in the last eight.