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Simona Halep continued her return to form and fitness by reaching the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup, a tournament she won in 2013.
Two-time grand slam champion Simona Halep has moved into the last eight of the Kremlin Cup with a straight sets defeat of Russia's Veronika Kudermetova .
The Romanian, who won this tournament in 2013, won 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).
The former world No.1 now meets Maria Sakkari who progressed after Anna Kalinskaya retired 32 minutes into their match with the Greek No.3 seed 6-2, 1-0 up.
Her progress secured Sakkari a place at this year's WTA Finals, the first Greek woman to qualify.
Earlier on Thursday Estonia's Anett Kontaveit beat Andrea Petkovic, of Germany, 6-1, 6-4. In her eighth quarter-final of 2021 she will play No.2 seed Garbine Muguruza
Marketa Vondrousova, of the Czech Republic, defeated Lesia Tsurenko 6-3, 6-3 to set up a last-eight meeting with 2014 winner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The Russian also reached the final when the tournament was last held in 2019.
Meanwhile, at the Tenerife Open, fourth seed Camila Giorgi enjoyed a commanding 6-1, 6-2 victory over Montenegro's Danka Kovinic.
However, there was no joy for seventh seed Clara Tauson as the Danish teenager went down 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4 against China's Saisai Zheng.
