Julia Gorges raced past top seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and into the quarter-finals of the Mallorca Open on Wednesday, as Victoria Azarenka won in her first match back on the WTA circuit after giving birth last year.

Gorges secured a rapid 6-1 6-2 victory in just 59 minutes in Spain, holding throughout and breaking her opponent twice in each set. 

She will face fellow German Sabine Lisicki next following her similarly dominant 6-3 6-4 win over Shelby Rogers.

Breaks in Rogers' first two service games cost the American, while Lisicki was immovable throughout the second set to progress with relative ease.

Earlier, completing a first-round match that started on Tuesday but was delayed due to bad light, Azarenka staved off three match points to overcome Risa Ozaki 6-3 4-6 7-6 (9-7).

The victory came on the Belarusian's first outing since the 2016 French Open haven taken time away from the sport to give birth to her son.

In other matches on Wednesday, Kristyna Pliskova got the better of Francesca Schiavone, the Czech beating the 2010 French Open winner 6-3 7-6 (9-7).

Up next is CiCi Bellis, who came from a set down to beat Mona Barthel 4-6 6-4 6-2.