Kerber, Ivanovic reach Tokyo QFs

Published February 05, 2015

Tokyo, Japan (SportsNetwork.com) - Top seed Angelique Kerber and former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic were a pair of straight-set second-round winners Wednesday at the $1 million Pan Pacific Open women's tennis event.

The left-hander Kerber handled Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4, while the third-seeded Serbian star Ivanovic doused fellow former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-4 on the hardcourts at Ariake Coliseum.

Ivanovic is now 3-5 lifetime versus the currently 25th-ranked Azarenka.

Kerber's quarterfinal opponent will be Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, while the 2007 Pan Pacific runner-up Ivanovic will encounter Czech Lucie Safarova.

The German Kerber was last year's Tokyo runner-up to fellow left-hander Petra Kvitova.

Also on Day 3, the sixth-seeded Slovakian Cibulkova topped American Coco Vandeweghe 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 and the seventh-seeded Safarova overcame wild card and rising Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

On Thursday, second-seeded U.S. Open runner-up and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki will take on Aussie qualifier Jarmila Gajdosova and fourth-seeded former top-ranked star Jelena Jankovic will face promising Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in the second round. Wozniacki was the Pan Pacific champ in 2010, while Jankovic was the 2009 runner-up.

This week's champion will collect $196,670.

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