Former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli beat seventh seed Caroline Wozniacki 7-6, 6-4 at the Stuttgart Grand Prix on Thursday to set up a quarter-final against world No. 3 Elena Dementieva.
World No. 1 Dinara Safina also moved into the last eight with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win over Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and will meet Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska.
Sixth seed Nadia Petrova from Russia was sent packing by Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, who beat the world No. 10 6-2, 6-2.
PHOTO: EPA
In a match that lasted just under two hours, France’s Bartoli took her time against the Dane after struggling past Karolina Sprem in three sets in the previous round.
After some long exchanges on the indoor clay court, Bartoli broke world No. 11 Wozniacki in the final game of the second set to clinch victory on her first match point.
Bartoli next plays Russia’s Dementieva, who beat Hungarian Agnes Szavay 7-6, 6-1.
World No. 4 Jelena Jankovic from Serbia needed more than two hours and three sets to beat Sabine Lisicki 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.
Fifth-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova from Russia came from a set down to beat China’s Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Eighth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska from Poland had little trouble against Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetlana Pironkova winning 6-3, 6-3 to earn a last eight encounter with Safina.
■ROME MASTERS
AFP AND REUTERS, ROME
Top seed Rafael Nadal swept aside Swede Robin Soderling 6-1, 6-0 at the Rome Masters on Thursday to book a quarter-final with fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco while Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer also had easy wins.
Holder Djokovic breezed past 13th seed Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-1 to set up a last-eight clash with Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro and Federer beat Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-1.
Nadal was simply unstoppable as he dismantled the world No. 27 Soderling.
In the next round Nadal will face compatriot Fernando Verdasco, the sixth seed, who beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-4.
The pair played an epic five-setter at the Australian Open earlier this year in the semi-finals with Nadal winning the decider 6-4 before going on to beat Roger Federer in the final.
He has a 7-0 record against Verdasco and has never dropped a set against him on clay.
Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco reached the last eight with a 6-4 6-4 win over Croatian 15th seed Marin Cilic.
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