French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova breezed to a 6-2, 6-2 win over two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals for the third time in four Grand Slam events.
The fourth-seeded Krejcikova was ousted in the second round of her two previous trips to Melbourne Park and is into the last eight at the Australian Open for the first time.
She'll next play Madison Keys, who reached the semifinals in Australia in 2015 and was runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Open.
Keys overpowered eighth-seeded Paula Badosa 6-3, 6-1 in the first of the fourth-round matches on Day 7 at Rod Laver Arena.
The 26-year-old American, who beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round, hit 26 winners and made only 18 unforced errors against Badosa to continue her unbeaten start to 2022. She claimed her sixth career title at a tune-up tournament in Adelaide last week.
Krejcikova went into her match against Azarenka believing the former 32-year-old, former No. 1-ranked player from Belarus was the favorite to win.
“She’s a champion here. She likes this court. She’s very experienced on this court. I have a lot of respect for her,” Krejcikova said. But, "I was doing everything to get this one, really preparing for a dream like this.
“And yeah, I’m in the quarterfinals.”
The fourth-seeded Krejcikova needed only 85 minutes to beat the 2012 and 2013 champion, who made 28 unforced errors and dropped five service games.
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