Wozniacki defeats Kanepi in China Open

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BEIJING: Second seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus pulled out with a foot injury to leave Caroline Wozniacki as the only top-10 player in the draw after the world number one beat Estonian Kaia Kanepi.

Former world number ones Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams pulled out before the tournament and Azarenka departed on Thursday when she could not play her third round match against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Denmark's Wozniacki was pushed hard by Kanepi before sealing a 6-3 7-6 victory and a quarter-final against Italy's Flavia Pennetta who beat Dominika Cibulkova.

The 26-year-old Kanepi, ranked 46th, rallied in the second set after twice losing serve, sending Wozniacki chasing around the baseline with some fierce returns.

She forced the second set into a tiebreak and had the weary looking defending champion on the back foot but an attempted drop shot into the net at 3-3 handed the initiative back to Wozniacki who was relieved to see her opponent double fault to end the contest.

Croatia's Marin Cilic reached the men's quarter-finals after a three-set win against Italian Fabio Fognini.