Wozniacki, Kvitova advance in Sydney
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The top-four seeds, including Dane round wins Tuesday at the $637,000 Sydney International tennis tournament.
The world No. 1 Wozniacki held off scrappy Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, while the second-seeded Wimbledon champion Kvitova snuck past Romanian lucky-loser Alexandra Dulgheru 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 on the hardcourts at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.
Wozniacki fought back from 0-4 down in the third set against the game Cibulkova.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I thought I didn't have that chance, but I never gave up the fight," Wozniacki said. "I'm happy to be through to the next round here. Definitely that I could fight back from that score is satisfying, but I definitely need to step up my game a little bit in the next round."
Meanwhile, third-seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka handled former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-2 and fourth-seeded French Open champion and Aussie Open runner-up Li Na of China overcame South African qualifier Chanelle Scheepers 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Jankovic was the Sydney runner-up back in 2007.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In other action involving seeds, No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland got past world No. 10 Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-5, 6-4 and No. 8 Marion Bartoli of France defeated wild card and Aussie crowd favorite Jelena Dokic 6-0, 6-3.
Also on Day 3, two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia was trailing Czech Lucie Safarova 1-6, 0-2 before retiring due to a heat-related illness and Slovakian veteran Daniela Hantuchova moved on with a 7-5, 6-1 win over 2011 French Open runner-up and 2010 Roland Garros titlist Francesca Schiavone, who was the Sydney runner-up in 2006. Kuznetsova was a finalist here in 2008.
Wednesday's quarterfinals will pit Wozniacki against Radwanska, Kvitova versus Hantuchova, Azarenka against Bartoli and Li versus Safarova.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The formidable Kvitova would overtake Wozniacki as the top player in the world with a title this week.
"Petra is a great girl. I like her a lot. She's one of my good friends," Wozniacki said. "I'm sure we'll play against each other and we'll both do well in the years to come. The most important thing is that we're all healthy and playing well. The competition on the court will be good fun for the fans as well."
The 2012 Sydney champion will pocket $107,000.