Seventh seed Klara Zakopalova moved into the 2014 Hobart International quarter-finals with a dominant round two win against Shuai Zhang today.
The world no. 37 needed only 57 minutes to record a 6-1 6-2 victory.
Zakopalova, from the Czech Republic, surprised even herself with the impressive performance against the 24 year-old Chinese player on Court Events Tasmania.
“I was expecting a very tough match because she is so young and very talented, so I’m happy I got through and with how I played,” she said. “I played my best match in five months, so I’m very happy.”
The 31 year-old is pleased to be starting the 2014 season strongly after a disappointing end to the 2013 season, where she won just one match in her final six tournaments.
“My confidence is back and now I’m looking forward to my next match,” Zakopalova said.
Zakopalova is competing at the Hobart International for an eighth time, the most of any player in the singles main draw this year.
“I like this tournament. The people are very nice and I like this place so I keep coming back,” Zakopalova said.
Her best result was a semi-final appearance in 2011 and she now has the chance to equal this when she meets American Alison Riske in the quarter-finals.
Riske, who knocked out fourth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in round one then beat Australian Casey Dellacqua yesterday, was in the crowd watching the end of the second round match today.
Zakopalova knows the world no. 55 will be a tough opponent.
“She is a big fighter and a very talented young player as well. I’ll just give 100 per cent and see if it is enough,” she said.