Kim Clijsters forced to step up a gear to reach quarter-final

Kim Clijsters completed the quarter-final line-up at the Australian Open, although she was made to struggle by Ekaterina Makarova.

The Belgian third seed is the bookmakers' favourite to go all the way and land her first title in Melbourne, but she encountered some stiff resistance from Makarova before finally going through 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

"She is a tricky player and a left-hander - we don't get them too often so you have to have a different mindset, especially with the returns," said Clijsters. "She is a good player and it was a good match."

Clijsters earned a quick break but was broken back immediately as Makarova levelled it up. US Open champion Clijsters threatened again at 6-5 by setting up two set points on the Russian's serve, but could not land the killer blow as it ended up going to the tie-break.

Her greater experience told in the breaker, however, as she upped the tempo to take the first set. The second was more straightforward as Makarova started to struggle. She was broken twice as Clijsters advanced to a meeting with Agnieszka Radwanska.

Pole Radwanska moved into the quarters in Melbourne for the second time in her career thanks to a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Shuai Peng. Vera Zvonareva remained on course for a third successive grand slam final appearance with victory over Iveta Benesova. The No 2 seed suffered a slow start but roared back to win 6-4 6-1 to set up a last-eight clash against Petra Kvitova, who continued her impressive run with a three-set win over Flavia Pennetta.

"I think I did pretty good overall," said Zvonareva. "She was able to go 4-2 up in the first set and I thought I was a little bit slow, a little bit passive. But then I was able to find momentum, stay a little bit more aggressive. And I kept that going until the end of the match."

Zvonareva reached the final at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, but continues to attract little attention, with the majority of the focus falling on Caroline Wozniacki and Clijsters.

The Russian was unmoved, however, and dismissed suggestions her achievements deserve more respect. "Well, I hope players respect me as a player because I respect all of them," she added. "I really don't think about it that much. There are a lot of people that always underestimated me and there are a lot of people that never believed in me and there are a lot of people that thought I would never make it to a grand slam semi-final but it doesn't really matter to me. The people around me believe in me. And the most important thing is that I believe in myself, and that's it."

Zvonareva will have to be at her best when she comes up against Kvitova. The 25th seed, who beat local favourite Sam Stosur in the previous round, hit back to oust Italian Pennetta 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 today. "I was very nervous in the first set," she admitted afterwards."But I kept fighting and tried to focus on each point. The match was very close all the way through."