DUBAI: Caroline Wozniacki moved to within one victory of regaining the No. 1 ranking after beating Japan's Ayumi Morita 6-1, 6-0 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships. The 20-year-old Dane, who lost the top spot to Kim Clijsters Monday, was never seriously challenged by the 57th-ranked Japanese qualifier. She now must beat Shahar Peer of Israel to return to No. 1. Wozniacki lost to Peer in the third round last year. In earlier matches, US Open finalist Vera Zvonareva and French Open champion Francesca Schiavone were both eliminated in the third round. Alisa Kleybanova beat Russian teammate Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2, while Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Schiavone 1-6, 6-0, 7-5. Samantha Stosur of Australia also reached the quarterfinals, beating Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-4, while Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland defeated Marion Bartoli of France 6-3, 6-2 and Peer overcame a sluggish start to beat Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic rallied to beat Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in nearly 2-1/2 hours. Italy's Flavia Pennetta came back from 4-1 down in the third set to beat seventh-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-4. Soderling, Llodra thru In France, Michael Llodra will defend his Open 13 title in the quarterfinals against top-seeded Robin Soderling after they won in straight sets Thursday. Soderling had some tricky moments as he labored to a 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5) win against French wild card Nicolas Mahut. The eighth-seeded Llodra fired a dozen aces and saved a break point in each set in beating Tobias Kamke of Germany 6-3, 6-4. By the same score, second-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic dismissed Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. Berdych will face Marin Cilic of Craotia Friday. Earlier, Dmitry Tursunov of Russia upset fifth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-6 (4), 6-3. Tursunov faces No. 4 Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the quarterfinals. Cilic advanced to the last eight after beating Philipp Petzschner of Germany 7-6 (3), 6-3. Hewitt, Fish advance In Memphis, Canada's Milos Raonic beat No. 2 seed Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) Wednesday in the first round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships. In other first-round action, former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia beat No. 7 seed Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-4, 7-6(3) . In the second round, No. 4 Mardy Fish of the US defeated Slovakia's Lukas Lacko, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (3) and Robert Kendrick beat fellow-American James Blake 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of an ATP event for the first time since July 2006. In the women's event, No. 3 Melanie Oudin of the US was eliminated by Evgeniya Rodina of Russia, 6-1, 7-5. Oudin's loss left sixth-seeded Rebecca Marino of Canada as the lone remaining seed in the tournament. Montanes in quarters In Argentina, fourth-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain beat Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the Copa Claro quarterfinals Wednesday. Second-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-7 (2), 6-1, 7-6 (4). No. 5 seed Juan Monaco defeated fellow Argentine Eduardo Schwank 7-6 (5), 6-2.
