TOKYO — Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat Ana Konjuh 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Pan Pacific Open.
Wozniacki had a first-round bye and faced little resistance from the Croatian qualifier in a match that lasted just over 80 minutes at Ariake Colosseum.
The Dane won five of nine break points to set up a quarterfinal with fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany who rallied to defeat Madison Brengle of the United States, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0.
"It's always tough when you haven't played matches for a while so I'm just happy to win this one and be through to the next round," said Wozniacki, whose last outing was a second round loss to Petra Cetkovska at the US Open. "There are a few things I want to work on but I'm happy with the victory."
Wozniacki, who won here in 2010, improved to 2-0 against Konjuh.
Third-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain beat Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 and next faces eighth-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.
Bencic rallied to beat Samantha Stosur 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.
It was Bencic's first win against the Australian veteran who lost despite hitting 13 aces.
Muguruza and Bencic will be playing against each other for the first time.
(Sources from Philstar.com and Philippinemavericks.com)