Garbine Muguruza advances to Shenzhen Open quarterfinals

SHENZHEN, China (AP) — Former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza had a 6-1, 7-6 (2) win over American Shelby Rogers to advance to the quarterfinals of Shenzhen Open on Wednesday.

Muguruza will play Zarina Diyas in the quarterfinals after the Kazakhstan player defeated Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-7 (9), 6-4.

“My goal is to play as many matches as I can, so I’m looking forward to my next match and to keep advancing in the tournament,” Muguruza said. “I’ve never played (Diyas) so I’m looking forward to facing a new opponent.”

Wednesday’s victory was the first time Muguruza has had consecutive wins at a WTA tournament since last year’s French Open, where she advanced to the fourth round.

Fifth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova extended her winning streak to seven matches when she defeated 2014 finalist Peng Shuai 7-6 (7), 6-1 in 83 minutes.

“The first set was tough, because the start was good, then the middle was so bad, and the end was okay,” the Russian said.

“I think she played extremely well at the end in the first set. In the second set, I was lucky that I could break her, and after, it was much easier for me.”

Alexandrova also saved the first set point before forcing the first set into tiebreak.

“It feels great to finally play in the quarterfinals here, because I’m playing for the fourth time here,” Alexandrova said.

She will now meet fourth-seeded Qiang Wang in the quarterfinals after the Chinese player beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (5).

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