Azarenka reaches French Open last eight

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PARIS: Belarusian fourth seed Victoria Azarenka, the top-ranked player left in the draw, defeated Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-3 to set up a clash with Chinese sixth seed Li Na.

The top-seeded remaining player after Caroline Wozniacki, Kim Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva were eliminated, encountered few problems against the unseeded Makarova on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

She now faces Li, who had earlier become the first player from China to reach the Roland Garros quarter-finals with a disjointed 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 defeat of 21-year-old Czech ninth seed Petra Kvitova.

Despite her superior seeding, Azarenka has beaten Li just once in four attempts -- most recently losing in the last 16 at the Australian Open -- and has never gone beyond the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam.

Li became the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, but she had to battle back from 3-0 down in the final set to overcome Kvitova in an error-strewn match.

Li, who made 19 unforced errors to her opponent's 33, makes no secret of her unease on the dirt but said her lack of claycourt pedigree should not prevent her from aiming high.

Petkovic's victory over Kirilenko, meanwhile, means she has equalled her best ever Grand Slam showing, after reaching the quarter-finals of a major for the first time at the Australian Open earlier this year.