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Serena Williams Cruises to Brisbane Quarters
By: Nick Georgandis
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Photo Credit: Partick McDermott/Getty Images
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(January 4, 2012) Serena Williams needed only 86 minutes to defeat Bojana Jovanovski on Wednesday to reach the Brisbane International quarterfinals in convincing 6-2, 6-4 fashion.
Williams, ranked 12th in the world after two injury-plagued seasons, scored her second win over Jovanovski in the past five months. Yet it may have been a phyrric victory, as Williams rolled her ankle during the match and appeared to struggle with her movement thereafter.
The first upset of Wednesday came courtesy Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, who thoroughly dominated seventh-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-3 in just over an hour.
Kanepi, who finished 2010 ranked 22nd in the world, then fell back to 34th in 2011, hit 96 percent of her first serves for winners (25-of-26) and broke Pavlyuchenkova four times without suffering a service break herself.
Kanepi, a perfect 3-0 all-time against Pavlyuchenkova, advances to the quarterfinals to face second-seeded Andrea Petkovic.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic's Iveta Benesova scored another upset when she beat top-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-2. This is the second consecutive year Stosur has lost in the second round.
In the mid-afternoon session, Russian qualifier Nina Bratchikova looked very much like the world's No. 154 player taking on its No. 14 female in a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Jelena Jankovic.
Jankovic has yet to drop a set in the tournament and will take on third-seeded Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals. The two former Top 5 players have met six times previously, with Jankovic owning a 4-2 advantage.
Against Bratchikova, Jankovic converted five break points in seven tries and racked up five aces.
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