Lisicki Sets Up Radwanska Showdown; Rus to Play Peng

No.4 seed Sabine Lisicki and No.5 Magdalena Rybarikova scored relatively one-sided wins to reach the quarterfinals of the Tashkent Open on Wednesday. Unseeded Ioana Raluca Olaru and Urszula Radwanska also secured last eight slots after being tested in their respective matches.  
 
"I'm now feeling very comfortable and more confident and hitting the ball better," Lisicki said after her 75 61 defeat of Russian qualifier Alexandra Panova. "I was a bit rusty in the first set, which could have been 64, but as the match progressed I'm feeling comfortable and look forward to doing well."
 
The German's opponent in the quarters will be Polish 17-year-old Urszula Radwanska, after the 2007 junior Wimbledon champion followed up her first round upset of local heroine Akgul Amanmuradova with a composed 75 62 dispatch of Georgia's Sofia Shapatava.
 
In the most closely contested match of the day, 19-year-old Olaru brought the run of Kyrgyzstani qualifier Ksenia Palkina to an end. Palkina had beaten No.2 seed Olga Govortsova in the first round, but today the Romanian proved to be the superior player, winning 26 63 62. She plays Rybarikova in the last eight, following the Slovak's 61 75 defeat of Russia's Vesna Manasieva.

 
Completing a match held over from Tuesday midway through the first set, Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus recovered from a set down to defeat wildcard Vlada Ekshibarova 36 62 61. The 17-year-old junior star takes on top seed Peng Shuai in the second round on Thursday.