Serena into Cincinnati quarters

Defending champion Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova booked quarter-final berths at the Cincinnati Masters on Thursday.

World No.1 Williams dismantled Italian 13th seed Flavia Pennetta 6-2 6-2 while fifth seed Sharapova beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 7-6 (7-2).

Also through was world No.2 and second seed Simona Halep, a 6-4 7-5 winner against Czech Lucie Safarova.

“Today was much better than my first match here,” said Halep, winner in Bucharest last month and runner-up to Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros.

“I was happy to win in two sets, since she was up 5-4.

Ukrainian teenager Elina Svitolina, who took out double Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova in the second round, claimed her second seeded victim with a defeat of Spain’s No.15 Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6 6-4 6-4.

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