Dominika Cibulkova battles past Victoria Azarenka to reach quarterfinals at the Australian Open

Dominika Cibulkova plays a forehand in her win over Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round

Melbourne, Jan 26 (IANS)

World No.10 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia outslugged two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to move to the quarter-finals of the tennis tournament at the Rod Laver Arena here Monday. Cibulkova, the No.11 seed, came out strong, storming through the first set, 6-2, but Azarenka began building her comeback straight away from the start of the second set, taking that one, 6-3, and jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the third. She was two points away from taking a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead.

But Cibulkova - who would have fallen out of the Top 20 with a loss - found rhythm when she needed it most, reeling off six of the last seven games to steal the victory.

"I always have tough matches with Vika. The tennis she plays goes well with mine. But today I would say it was the best match we've ever played against each other," Cibulkova said.

"I've lost to her before where I was a set up and maybe 5-2 or 5-3 second set, and I didn't manage to finish it. Today I wasn't thinking about the score, I was just going for it," she added.

"And when I was up, I was going for it even more."