St Petersburg Ladies' Trophy: Caroline Wozniacki races into quarter-finals; Kristina Mladenovic ends losing streak

Saint Petersburg, Russia: World number one Caroline Wozniacki, fresh off her Australian Open victory, dropped just one game in a dominant performance to beat Russian youngster Anastasia Potapova at the St Petersburg Ladies’ Trophy on Thursday. The 27-year-old Dane picked up a 6-0, 6-1 victory to set-up a quarter-final clash with another young Russian Daria Kasatkina, who defeated France’s Alize Cornet on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_4331989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Carolina Wozniacki celebrates her win over Anastasia Potapova. Image courtesy: Formula TX website [/caption] Potapova fired 17 winners to Wozniacki’s 16 but was undone be her unforced errors, hitting 31 during the match. Wozniacki created 21 chances to break her 16-year-old opponent’s serve and converted seven times to seal the win in an hour and seven minutes. “I had to be well prepared for today’s match against a former junior Wimbledon champion even though she’s still so young,” Wozniacki said. “Kasatkina is a great player, she mixes up the pace a lot. It’s going to be difficult but I‘m excited for it.” Earlier in the day, defending champion Kristina Mladenovic finally had a singles result to celebrate as she defeated Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. “What can I say? I come in here, and from the first moment, I was super happy, and kind of proud, and having very positive vibes,” the Frenchwoman, who ended her 15-match losing streak, said. “Like last year I felt like I haven’t left this place. St Petersburg is definitely magic for me, and I feel like home, like this is my home.” Fifth seed Julia Goerges also marched on to the last-eight on her debut in the tournament after overcoming Italian qualifier Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-0. Goerges had never beaten Vinci in three previous meetings dating back to 2010 but she grew in confidence in a difficult first set, before recording her second bagel of the year to claim the victory. The German will next face 18-year-old Russian qualifier Elena Rybakina for a place in the semi-finals.