Iga Swiatek stormed into the last eight at the Dubai Tennis Championships with an emphatic victory over Liudmila Samsonova.
It only took 76 minutes for the number one seed to record a 6-1 6-0 triumph on Wednesday, continuing a fine run after her triumph in Qatar last week.
Swiatek had only narrowly beaten Samsonova in an epic three-set encounter in the Stuttgart semi-finals last year, but was completely dominant this time around at the WTA 1000 event.
Samsonova struggled in recording a first-serve percentage of just 58.5, and Swiatek was ruthless in winning 19 of 22 points on the Russian's second serve.
Swiatek did not even have to fend off a break point in cruising to victory and will play Karolina Pliskova in the quarters.
33 - Iga Swiatek has won 61.1% of her WTA-1000 main draw matches in straight sets (33/54): only Serena Williams (63.6%) has a higher winning ratio - since 2009. Tank.@WTA_insider @WTA | #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/Pxz1rruJhr
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) February 22, 2023
Pliskova, the two-time grand slam finalist, battled to a 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 win over Anhelina Kalinina to reach the last eight in Dubai for the fifth time in her career.
There were also two American successes, with Madison Keys needing only 57 minutes to beat Victoria Azarenka, who appeared to be struggling with her movement.
Keys had lost all of her previous four meetings with Azarenka but triumphed 6-2 6-1 in routine fashion.
And Jessica Pegula joined her compatriot in progressing, winning her first career meeting with Ana Bogdan in straight sets.
Elsewhere, 2019 winner Belinda Bencic crashed out, with Karolina Muchova, who also knocked out Maria Sakkari this week, triumphing 6-1 6-4 to book a quarter-final date with Pegula.
5 - Jessica Pegula is the first American player ever to reach the quarterfinals in five consecutive WTA-1000 hard courts events - since 2009. Commendable.@WTA_insider @WTA | #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/uB8ViGyt3y
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) February 22, 2023