DUBAI: Defending champion Mirra Andreeva was among a raft of top seeds that moved menacingly into striking position at this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, with a star-studded quarterfinal lineup setting up a thrilling denouement to the WTA 1000 event.

With nine seeded players swelling the competition in today’s round of 16, and only two matches pitting seed against seed, five daylight matches ultimately saw most fancied favorites progress to the quarterfinals.

In the opening match on Centre Court, Amanda Anisimova, the tournament’s second seed and the World No. 6, took only 70 minutes to dispose of Indonesian wildcard Janice Tjen 6-1, 6-3, in what was the reigning Wimbledon champion’s first match of the tournament.

After receiving a bye in the round of 64, Anisimova was subsequently handed a walkover in the round of 32 when Barbora Krejcikova withdrew due to injury. The well-rested American’s reward for her ruthless dismantling of Tjen is a quarterfinal clash with fifth seed Mirra Andreeva, who edged out Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 7-5, 6-3, in the second match on Centre Court.

Similarly, Andreeva’s win came a mere 24 hours after Daria Kasatkina’s withdrawal handed the fifth seed a second round walkover — on top of her first round bye — into the round of 32. Ahead of their last eight showdown, Andreeva said: “It’s the second time it ever happened to me, that the girl withdrew before the match. I had one more day of practice, but I feel like it’s kind of breaking the rhythm of your play a little bit.

“I feel like I was pretty far from perfect today, from how I want to play, so I’m just really happy that I stayed focused and tried to reset for every single point, I’m super happy with that. I’m sure tomorrow is going to be better because I’m going to get into this rhythm.”

Now only three matches away from defending her Dubai title — which would make the Russian the first back-to-back winner since Elina Svitolina in 2018 — Andreeva added: “I know I’m a defending champion, but I have so many nice and great memories from Dubai from last year. I feel all the support from the people. And honestly, it’s insane because I feel so much more motivation here than any tournament, so I’m just so excited to try and defend my title. I’m going to give it all tomorrow and we’ll see how it’s going to go.”

The final daylight match on Centre Court saw top seed Elena Rybakina, the world No. 3, retire during her match with Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic. Despite surrendering six inches in height and reach to the two-time Grand Slam winner, Ruzic showed few signs of fatigue after navigating two punishing three-set matches over the past two days.

After losing a topsy-turvy first set where she broke Rybakina in the very first game, Ruzic, ranked 64 places below her opponent, bravely battled back to clinch the second set 6-4. Then, only seconds into the decider, and moments after Ruzic broke Rybakina again to go 1-0 up, Rybakina’s race was run — the 26-year-old retiring due to illness.

On New Court 1, last year’s defeated finalist, Dane Clara Tauson, maintained her confident form with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2 victory over Magda Linette. Having eliminated eighth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the round of 32, the Pole had no answer to the impressive Tauson, who will face her third American opponent in four matches in Thursday’s quarterfinal.

Her last eight opponent was decided in the second match on Dubai Tennis Stadium’s newest court, which saw an all-American clash between rising star and 16th seed Iva Jovic, and 2024 US Open finalist Jessica Pegula, the fourth seed.

After a tight opening set, the seasoned Pegula upped the ante and eventually overpowered her younger rival 6-4, 6-2. The Pegula-Tauson quarterfinal looks delicately balanced, with both players yet to drop a set in Dubai this year.