• French Open, Day Nine

Azarenka powers into quarter-finals

Victoria Azarenka will meet Li Na in the quarter-finals © PA Photos

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Victoria Azarenka's bid for her maiden grand slam title remained firmly on track after the fourth seed marched into the French Open quarter-finals.

Azarenka is the highest-ranked player remaining in the women's draw following defeats to Caroline Woznaicki, Kim Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva, and the Belarusian had no intention of suffering a similar fate as she booked her place in the last-eight with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.

Azarenka is yet to drop a set in Paris, and she looked comfortable as she wrapped up another victory after a little over an hour on court.

Next up is Na Li, who became the first Chinese player to reach the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. Li hit fewer winners than Petra Kvitova, yet still managed to progress from their fourth-round encounter in three sets. Kvitova hit six more winners than her rival, but she lost out 2-6 6-1 6-3 in an hour and 44 minutes.

The ninth-seeded Kvitova settled better in the day's first match on Court Philippe Chatrier, but a rash of unforced errors allowed Li to hit back from a set down. The Chinese player began to switch the ball from side to side with ease, handing Kvitova the platform on which to commit 33 unforced errors, losing the match after building a 3-0 lead in the final set.

Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova is just three matches away from completing a career Grand Slam after the Russian set up an intriguing quarter-final clash with Andrea Petkovic.

Sharapova recovered from a slow start to fight her way past Polish 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska in two tight sets. Sharapova went a break down in both sets but showed real battling qualities as she sealed a 7-6(4) 7-5 win after two hours on court.

She will now face the in-form German Petkovic, who is unbeaten in nine matches after her victory at Strasbourg the week before arriving in Paris. Petkovic held her nerve to beat Maria Kirilenko 6-2 2-6 6-4 to reach her second consecutive grand slam quarter-final - she beat Sharapova to reach the last eight in Melbourne.

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