After two injury-interrupted seasons, Victoria Azarenka is emerging from the shadows of some highly-ranked rivals who have either withdrawn from Australian Open warmup events or lost in the early rounds.
The two-time Australian Open champion reached the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International — a tournament she won in 2009 — with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Ysaline Bonaventure.
Bonaventure, a lucky loser from qualifying, was cast into the second round on Wednesday as a replacement for top-seeded Simona Halep, who had a bye before withdrawing from a scheduled second-round match with Azarenka because of an Achilles tendon problem.
Halep withdrew within an hour of defending champion Maria Sharapova pulling out of the tournament with a left forearm injury.
Third-seeded Garbine Muguruza joined the Brisbane injury procession late on Wednesday when she retired in the second set of her match against Varvara lepchenko.
Muguruza lost the first set 7-6 (9) before having to quit with a left foot injury. The Spanish player called for a trainer and was granted a medical timeout, but retired after losing the first game of the second set.
Azarenka conceded an early service break against Bonaventure and had seven double-faults in the first set, but otherwise dominated after converting her fifth break-point chance in a fourth game that lasted more than 17 minutes and went to deuce 11 times.
Azarenka who dropped to a year-end No. 22 ranking in December after being restricted to just 23 events across 2014 and '15, is working her way back into form.
In the men's draw, second-seeded Kei Nishikori opened with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Mikhail Kukushkin to move into the quarterfinals against seventh-seeded Bernard Tomic, a 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-6 (4) winner over Radek Stepanek.
Serena withdraws from Hopman Cup
PERTH: Serena Williams withdrew from the Hopman Cup on Wednesday because of inflammation in her left knee, a setback in her preparations for the Australian Open.
Williams has been replaced by Vicky Duval in the US team for the last Group A match against the Czech Republic on Thursday. Williams withdrew ahead of her season-opening match against Ukraine on Monday, with Duval filling in for her, and retired in the second set against Australia's Jarmila Wolfe on Tuesday.
The US team is 0-2 and cannot reach the final of the international mixed team competition.
Williams had initially been confident of returning to action in Perth.
"It's not even a bump — just a really minor thing in the road and I'll fly over it," Williams said after retiring against Wolfe. "I just have some inflammation that's been going away very slowly — it's going away but it needs a little more time.
At the Hopman Cup mixed teams event, Andy Murray, appearing to be affected by a right leg ailment, lost to Australia Green's Nick Kyrgios 6-4, 7-6 (6). But Britain's Heather Watson came back to beat Daria Gavrilova 6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-5 to send the match to a mixed doubles decider.
Germany leveled its record at 1-1 with a 2-1 win over France, which lost for the second time.
In New Zealand, third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki had a 6-0, 6-2 win over Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens beat Carina Witthoeft 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Radwanska advances
SHENZHEN: Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland sailed into the quarterfinals of the Shenzhen Open but three other seeded players were knocked out in the second round.
Radwanska, who won last year's WTA finals, scored a 6-1, 7-5 win over Chinese player Shuai Zhang. Radwanska won all three break points in the first set. The players traded two breaks in the second set before Radwanska broke in the final game to take the victory.
Djokovic beats Verdasco
DOHA: Novak Djokovic advanced to the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open by beating Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday.
Djokovic, who saved two break points in his service game, is now 8-4 against the Spaniard. He's also on a 17-match winning streak against Spanish players dating back to a 2014 loss to Tommy Robredo.
Djokovic will play eighth-seeded leonardo Mayer of Argentina in the quarterfinals.