French Open finalist Samantha Stosur and Kim Clijsters, the fifth seed, reached the quarter-finals of the Eastbourne International with contrasting performances on Wednesday.
Third-seeded Stosur outlasted Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, needing three match points to close out a second-round match her Slovakian opponent started well.
Clijsters needed just 38 minutes to sweep aside Czech lefthander Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-0 and continue her good form in the Wimbledon warmup tournament.
PHOTO: AFP
In the men’s draw, top-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain was carried off court on a stretcher as he retired hurt against Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin while trailing 6-4, 1-0.
Almagro slipped while trying to turn on the baseline and suffered a right hip injury.
There was also a retirement in the women’s competition, when Aravane Rezai of France sustained a right wrist injury and allowed Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez to progress, 6-2, 3-0.
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus made the last eight by overwhelming British junior Heather Watson 6-1, 6-1 and eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France needed three match points before defeating Hungary’s Agnes Szavay 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Hantuchova, a finalist at Eastbourne in 2004, did not drop a point in her first three service games but Stosur forced a forehand error to break for 4-3 and then struck a forehand winner to break again for the set.
Three breaks from 1-1 left Hantuchova leading 3-2 in the second set and she broke again to take it when the Australian hit a double-fault.
Just one break decided the final set, when Stosur hit a forehand winner to go 4-3 ahead.
“Considering the conditions out there, we played a good quality match,” Stosur told reporters. “Grass is difficult sometimes, you add the wind and everything else. It is what it is, it’s good to get as many matches as possible.”
Clijsters, who is playing her first tournament since injuring her foot in a Fed Cup tie in April, has dropped just three games in her first two matches.
“It was a good one, quick and perfect,” Clijsters said. “I feel that I’m moving well. I feel that my foot is holding up good and obviously those were my main concerns, especially the foot, when I first got here.”
Svetlana Kuznetsova, who has seen her ranking slide to 20 over the course of a disappointing season, needed two hours, 30 minutes to overcome Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4), and Nadia Petrova fell 6-2, 6-0 to qualifier Ekaterina Makarova.
In men’s play, seventh-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine beat Taiwan’s Yen-hsun Lu 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-2 in their second-round match.
French pair Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra both made the quarter-finals. Benneteau defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (8), 7-5 and Llodra edged compatriot Stephane Robert, 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-4.
■UNICEF OPEN
AP, DEN BOSCH, THE NETHERLANDS
Top-seeded Justine Henin advanced to the quarter-finals of the UNICEF Open on Wednesday in her first grass-court tournament in three years.
Henin beat Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3, 6-3 in their second-round match.
Fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania also secured a place in the last eight of the women’s draw, with a win over Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
In the men’s competition third-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain lost to German Simon Greul 6-1, 6-4, and Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo knocked out fourth-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-4.
Defending champion Benjamin Becker made it through by beating Henri Kontinen of Finland 6-2, 6-1.
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