Top seed Marion Bartoli reached the quarterfinals at the $220,000 Strasbourg International tennis event without even taking the court on Wednesday. The French crowd favorite Bartoli advanced after her second-round opponent Brit Elena Baltacha withdrew from the tournament with a right lumbar spine injury.
Second-seeded German Andrea Petkovic blew past China’s Zhang Shuai 6-1, 6-3 at Centre de la Ligue d’Alsace.
Bartoli will face eighth-seeded Czech Lucie Hradecka in the quarterfinals, while Petkovic will battle fifth-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko. Hradecka handled qualifier Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France 6-2, 6-4 and Kirilenko moved on with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Spaniard Laura Pous-Tio.
Additional second-round wins came for fourth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova, who rallied to beat Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 and sixth-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, who advanced by downing France’s Mathilde Johansson 6-4, 6-2. Petrova and Hantuchova will clash in the quarterfinals. Also, three-time Strasbourg champion Anabel Medina Garrigues handled Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 6-0. The seventh-seeded Spaniard, who titled here in 2005, 2007 and 2008, will face Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic on Thursday. Lucic defeated Jelena Dokic 6-2, 6-2. This week’s winner will claim $37,000.
