Azarenka brushes aside Ivanovic

Victoria Azarenka gave an emphatic statement of her title credentials with a crushing win over Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round at Wimbledon.

The second seed had flown under the radar during the first week but she made sure that would not be the case today as she thumped Ivanovic 6-1 6-0 on Centre Court to set up a quarter-final against Tamira Paszek.

Azarenka began the year by winning 26 matches in a row, lifting her first grand slam title at the Australian Open and taking over the number one ranking.

The Belarusian struggled a little on the clay, losing to Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round of the French Open and seeing Maria Sharapova move above her in the rankings, but she now looks to be back to her best.

She was simply far too good for Ivanovic, who could not cope with the power or movement of her opponent.

Azarenka was 4-0 up when play was halted because of rain and the roof was shut, but the change in conditions did not affect the pattern of the match.

Ivanovic managed to get on the board but it was only a brief respite and Azarenka refused to allow the former French Open champion a single game in the second set.

The 22-year-old will now hope to repeat last year’s success over Austrian Paszek, when they also met in the quarter-finals, with Azarenka winning that one 6-3 6-1.