Victoria Azarenka will face another former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in an intriguing Qatar Open quarter-final after seeing off WTA rising star Elina Svitolina in three sets in Doha on Wednesday.
Azarenka came good 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 to maintain her quest for a third Qatar title after 2012 and 2013.
The unseeded Belarus, who held a match-point at 5-4 in the second set, came across Wozniacki last in the Australian Open when she beat the Dane in the second round.
Wozniacki is into the last eight after unseeded Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru retired after trailing 6-1 3-0 in their second-round clash.
Top seed Petra Kvitova was in control of her match with Jelena Jankovic at 6-1 1-1 when the Serb had to retire with a hip problem.
She now faces Carla Suarez Navarro, who came through her meeting with Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7-2) 6-4.
Germany’s sixth-seed Andrea Petkovic avenged her loss in Dubai last week to Kazakh Zarina Diyas 5-7 6-2 6-4.
Kvitova’s compatriot Lucie Safarova pulled off the surprise of the day, her 14 aces firing her past Russian fifth seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
Agnieszka Radwanska, the Polish fourth seed, spoiled Flavia Penetta’s 33rd birthday celebrations, cruising past the Italian 6-1 6-1 to set up a last eight meeting with Venus Williams.