Tennis: Bartoli topples Miami top seed Kuznetsova

MARION BARTOLI wasted little time in brushing aside top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

The Russian, struggling with a shoulder injury, was dispatched by her French opponent 6-3, 6-0 in 56 minutes. Bartoli's reward is a quarter-final clash against 12th seed Yanina Wickmayer who beat Timea Bacsinszky 6-0, 6-1.

Venus Williams survived an early scare to see off Daniela Hantuchova 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 after the Slovakian stormed out of the blocks, racing into a 4-0 lead in the first set.

Caroline Wozniacki had no such problems and the second seed needed little more than an hour to dismiss Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-2.

She will face Justine Henin in the quarter-finals after the former World No.1 saw off 11th seed Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-4.

Elsewhere, Kim Clijsters defeated defending champion Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-0, to set herself up with another tricky opponent in Samantha Stosur.

The ninth-seeded Australian beat Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 7-6 (11/9) although she was made to work in the second set as the No.7 seed threatened a comeback from 3-1 down.