By Adrianna Outlaw | Thursday, August 6, 2015

 

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 6-4, to reach her third quarterfinal of the season in Washington, D.C.

Photo credit: Christopher Levy

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova continues her career trend of capital gains in Washington, D.C.

Pavlyuchenkova pounded six aces and permitted just six points on serve beating Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 6-4, to advance to the Citi Open quarterfinals for the third straight time.

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It is the third quarterfinal of the season for the 40th-ranked Russian, who is coming off a semifinal appearance in Baku.

A 2012 Citi Open finalist, Pavlyuchenkova will face American Christina McHale for a place in the semifinals.

The 62nd-ranked McHale squandered a one-set, one-break lead, losing nine straight games to Yulia Putintseva before rallying to win seven of the last nine games in a wild, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 triumph.

Top-seeded Ekaterina Makarova withstood 14 aces from Naomi Brady scoring a 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory. Makarova meets sixth-seeded Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu in the quarterfinals. The reigning U.S. Open doubles champion is playing for her third straight Washington, D.C. semifinal appearance.

The powerful Pavlyuchenkova broke Bencic at love for a 4-1 lead. She saved both break points she faced in the match.

"I was really focusing on my serve and it worked so I'm really happy with my performance today," Pavlyuchenkova told Tennis Channel's Justin Gimelstob after the match. "I was quite chill out there. I was still really jet-lagged and tired from the other tournament. I just wanted to play my game and have fun."

Pavlyuchenkova and partner Alla Kudryavtseva also advanced to the doubles semifinal.