Bencic edges Azarenka in Doha

Swiss Belinda Bencic, the No 7 seed, advanced to the last 8 of the Qatar Open by edging out Belarusian wildcard Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha on Wednesday.

Bencic, ranked No 9, will play the winner of the match between Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, and American Danielle Collins next.

In the previous round of the Doha Open, the Swiss won against Bulgarian qualifier Viktoriya Tomova (6-0, 6-1).

Azarenka, ranked No 17, beat Turk wildcard Ipek Oz (6-1, 6-1) in the first round of the Doha Open.

Doha WTA 500, other second-round results (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 780.637, most recent results first):

• Karolina Muchova vs. Caroline Garcia
• Iga Swiatek vs. Danielle Collins
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia: wednesday
• Maria Sakkari vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova: wednesday
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Jessica Pegula: wednesday
• Veronika Kudermetova (8) beat Sofia Kenin (WC): 6-2, 7-5
• Coco Gauff (4) beat Petra Kvitova: 6-3, 7-6 (6)