Azarenka battles through at US Open

NEW YORK: Second seed Victoria Azarenka battled her way into the last 16 at the US Open on Saturday.

The two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka escaped an upset bid while Daniela Hantuchova saved four match points to advance, but Grand Slam winners Petra Kvitova and Svetlana Kuznetsova were ousted.

Azarenka, who lost to top seed Serena Williams in last year's final, outlasted French 26th seed Alize Cornet 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-2.

Cornet denied Azarenka on 10 of 11 break chances in the first set, but could not hold on after dominating the tie-breaker.

Next up for Azarenka will be Serbian 13th seed Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion who rallied past Christina McHale 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 -- denying the American when she served for the match in the second set.

Czech seventh seed Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion who was diagnosed with a virus Friday, made 27 unforced errors and seven double faults in losing to 81st-ranked US wildcard Alison Riske 6-3, 6-0.

Riske next faces 48th-ranked Slovak Hantuchova, who struggled with a sore right shoulder but beat Israeli qualifier Julia Glushko 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4).

Russian 27th seed Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open champion, made 35 unforced errors in losing 7-5, 6-1 to Italy's 83rd-ranked Flavia Pennetta, who had dropped their five prior career matchups.

Pennetta, who also ousted Italian fourth seed Sara Errani, will next face Romania's Simona Halep.

Halep, who won her fourth title in the past three months last week at New Haven, breezed into the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the first time by ripping Russian 14th seed Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-0.

Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer outlasted Russian-born Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the last 16, where he will meet 18th-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic.

Canadian 10th seed Milos Raonic blasted 28 aces to defeat 23rd-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, to book a fourth-round match with French eighth seed Richard Gasquet, who advanced when Russian Dmitry Tursonov retired down 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 4-2. (AFP)