Top-seeded Mona Barthel of Germany pulled out with a shoulder injury while trailing 6-2, 4-3 to the 725th-ranked Lisa-Maria Moser in the second round of the Gastein Ladies on Wednesday.
Playing in her first WTA event, Moser broke twice to take the opening set and the Austrian wild-card was a break up in the second when the 31st-ranked Barthel withdrew.
Barthel, who was looking to reach her fourth quarter-final of the season and first since winning in Paris in February, took over the top seeding after defending champion Alize Cornet of France also pulled out with a shoulder injury.
In the quarter-finals, Moser will play Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic, who rallied to beat Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 5-7, 6-1, 6-0.
Also, No. 8 seed Karin Knapp of Italy advanced to the last eight after beating Alexandra Cadantu of Romania 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-1. Knapp will face second-seeded Annika Beck of Germany who defeated Mandy Minella of Luxembourg, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 yesterday.
In first-round play, 2007 finalist Yvonne Meusburger routed Jasmina Tinjic of Bosnia 6-0, 6-0. Coming off her second career final in Budapest at the weekend, the Austrian conceded only three points on serve, including a double fault.
Meusburger beat third seed Irina Begu of Romania yesterday 6-3, 6-3 to reach the last eight, while Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands defeated Estrella Cabeza Candela of Spain 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.
SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, Sweden
Fifth-seeded Lourdes Dominguez Lino, No. 8 Johanna Larsson, Klara Zakopalova and Virginie Razzano reached the quarter-finals of the Swedish Open on Wednesday.
Spain’s Dominguez Lino rallied past Teliana Pereira of Brazil 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, while home favorite Larsson defeated Nina Bratchikova 6-2, 6-3 at the clay-court tournament on Sweden’s west coast.
Zakopalova broke serve five times to beat Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-3, 6-1, while France’s Razzano came from behind to down Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 3-6, 6-0, 6-4.
Second-seeded Simona Halep of Romania advanced to the second round by beating Rebecca Peterson of Sweden 6-4, 6-0, but lost to unseeded Italian Flavia Pennetta yesterday.
Penetta lost the first set 4-6 before bouncing back to claim the second 7-5. The Italian was leading 2-0 in the decider when Halep retired.
The Romanian has recently surged in the rankings after winning three WTA titles in five weeks.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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