At the Premier-level Kremlin Cup all the seeded players that were in action on Thursday moved into the quarterfinals in straight sets, wrapping up the second round. No.1 seed Samantha Stosur survived her first match of the tournament and tightly went past Alize Cornet 7-6(6) 7-5. Fourth seed Ana Ivanovic beat Russian qualifier Valeria Solovieva 6-1 6-4 and an interesting meeting is awaiting her with a new compatriot, Russian-born Vesna Dolonc who became Serbian in spring and has now reached her biggest career quarterfinal by winning all the games from 1-all in the first set against Simona Halep for a 6-1 6-0 victory. The encounter will be their first. Seventh seed Maria Kirilenko defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5 6-4, after trailing 1-5 in the opening set.
Kremlin Cup quarterfinal matches: Samantha Stosur (1) vs. Klara Zakopalova, Ana Ivanovic (4) vs. Vesna Dolonc, Dominika Cibulkova (5) vs. Caroline Wozniacki (3) and Maria Kirilenko (7) vs. Sofia Arvidsson.
At the Luxembourg tournament, top seed Roberta Vinci was the only seed that stayed alive not only on Thursday but in the entire second round. Vinci defeated Anne Keothavong 6-4 6-1, while seed No.2 Julia Goerges fell to Monica Niculescu 6-4 6-2, No.3 Jelena Jankovic lost to Andrea Petkovic, who is slowly returning from her long injury layoff, 7-5 6-0, No.6 Sorana Cirstea lost to Ksenia Pervak 7-6(4) 6-1 and No.9 Mona Barthel was eliminated by Venus Williams 7-6(4) 6-4. Home player Kirsten Flipkens also lost, against Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 4-6 6-2.
Flipkens has been receiving coaching advice from good friend and fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters and before losing to Hantuchova she had won 24 of her 26 matches, combining WTA, WTA qualifying and ITF results. Clijsters retired after the US Open this year in order to spend more time with her family, therefore, she is not planning to accompany Flipkens regularly, but she will travel to some tournaments with her. In June, Flipkens was ranked No.262 and now she’s at No.58, more than 200 spots higher!
BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open quarterfinal matches: Roberta Vinci (1) vs. Venus Williams, Andrea Petkovic vs. Ksenia Pervak, Lourdes Dominguez Lino vs. Daniela Hantuchova and Lucie Hradecka vs. Monica Niculescu. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
