Kaia Kanepi overwhelms Sorana Cirstea to reach the quarter-finals – Portugal Open 2013
Defending champion, Kaia Kanepi, had no trouble at all to sideline the fifth seeded Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, in the second round battle of Portugal Open on Wednesday. The 27-year-old Estonian took merely 65 minutes to overwhelm
the world number 26 in two comprehensive sets, 6-1, 6-2, to book a slot in the quarter-final round of the clay-court tournament in Oeiras, Portugal.
Currently holding the number 40 rank in the WTA Premier Rankings, Kanepi failed to have a seeded entry to the tournament but she is right on course for her title defence campaign. The Estonian number one spared merely three games
for the superior ranked rival in the entire contest and cruised through both sets to register her victory in an assertive manner. Kanepi is yet to end her title drought of the running season and it was mere her fourth victory this year. She hasn’t been at
her best recently but her victory over Cirstea has given her a huge confidence booster for the tough encounters to come later this week. Kanepi was delighted on her victory and expressed it in these words:
"I never played a tournament as a defending champion before this, but right now I'm trying not to feel any different” she told the reporters, “I'm not worrying about my legs or my game or defending any points, I just want to get
back to playing well again. And I'm happy to be in the quarterfinals now, actually. I tried to play aggressive and not give her much time to hit her shots. I didn't make many mistakes either - I was quite solid. I really enjoy playing here and feel good when
I'm playing here. It's a good court and they have good balls, and I've played really well my last two matches."
Kanepi will have to take on the Japanese tennis ace, Ayumi Morita, in the quarter-final round of Portugal Open on Friday. Morita registered a thumping victory against Urszula Radwanska, the Polish youngster who stunned the second
seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round. The Japanese disposed of Radwanska in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, to meet the defending champion in the round of eight.
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