WTA Toronto Preview: Victoria Azarenka vs. Galina Voskoboeva

Victoria Azarenka entered this year’s Rogers Cup as one of the favourites, and so far she’s hardly put a foot wrong and remains in contention to win the title. The Belarusian started her campaign by dishing out a 6-0, 6-0 thrashing to Stephanie Dubois, before booking her place in the last eight with a confident 6-1, 6-2 dismissal of Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Azarenka’s quarter-final opponent will be Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan. Voskoboeva is ranked outside of the top hundred and entered here as a qualifier, but doesn’t appear to be an easy opponent for the world No. 4. She caused a huge shock by ousting Maria Sharapova on Thursday (6-3, 7-5), and she’d already defied the odds to beat both Marion Bartoli and Flavia Pennetta in the preceding rounds.

Azarenka and Voskoboeva met twice in 2005, and their head to head record currently stands at 1-1. This time around Azarenka should really be considered the clear favourite. That said, Voskoboeva has produced a number of outstanding performances here, and she might just be able to continue her surprising run if she can maintain this form.