Ana produced a virtually flawless performance as she dismantled world No.3 Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the China Open in Beijing. The victory represents Ana's first win against a top 5-ranked player since June 2008.Ana won the spin of the coin and elected to serve, but was broken in the opening game. She trailed 40-15 in the Russian’s opening service game, but with stunning forehands she re-broke Zvonareva instantly.
The world No.3 kept pace with Ana until 2-3, but from this point in the set, Ana overpowered the Russian. She won ten straight points, breaking the Zvonareva serve twice more to claim the set in hugely impressive fashion.
Both players held serve to love in their first service game of the second set. It would emerge to be the only hold of serve for the Russian, reflecting Ana’s masterful manner of returning today.
Ana cruised from then on in, dominating from all corners of the court and sending the Russian from pillar to post with perfectly measured groundstrokes. She appeared to be enjoying herself too, smiling frequently between points.
Ana earned three more break points in the sixth game: the Russian managed to get back to deuce, but a fourth break point was sufficient for Ana to move into a 5-1 lead.
The former world No. 1 finished the contest in style: as a mini re-telling of the the rest of the match, she hit another winner on the line.
The 23-year-old hit 29 winners throughout the match and improved her win-loss record at the National Tennis Center to 6-1. She triumphed in just 68 minutes.
"I was really happy with the way I played today," said Ana. "I thought she still played well, but I kept the ball deep and sort of didn't give her too many opportunities.
"I was very pleased with this, because she's a great player. We had a tough match few months ago, so I really tried to step up today, and I thought I did that really well. I thought I really took away chances from her."
Ana will face either 11th seed and last week's Tokyo winner Agnieszka Radwanska or Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson in the quarter-finals on Friday.
