Top seeds Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova have reached the last eight of the China Open, both recording their third consecutive straight-sets victories in Beijing.

World No.1 and first seed Azarenka dispatched Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-3 6-3 to set up a quarter-final tie with Switzerland’s Romina Oprandi.

The 23-year-old from Belarus has yet to drop a set in the tournament, defeating France’s Alize Cornet 6-1 6-0 in the first round and Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-4 6-2 in the second.

Second-seed Sharapova, No.2 in the WTA rankings behind Azarenka, defeated Slovenian qualifier Polona Hercog, ranked 90th in the world, 6-0 6-2 at the capital’s National Tennis Stadium.

Sharapova, 25, had beaten Romania’s Simona Halep 7-5 7-5 in the first round and Sorana Cirstea, also of Romania, 6-2 6-2 in round two.

“I had a long first round, even though it was two sets, but today and yesterday was definitely a little bit quicker,” Sharapova said.

“I played really well in the beginning and got a little tense in the second set, but I felt like I really needed that challenge.

“It’s nice to be in the quarter-final stage of this tournament.”

Sharapova will face her first real test of the Premier Mandatory event in the next round when she takes on either fifth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany or former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.

The China Open is the fourth and final compulsory tournament of the women’s calendar, behind only the grand slams and season-ending WTA Championships in prestige.