Third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France booked a quarter-final berth at the $721,000 WTA hardcourt tournament here Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Rebecca Marino. Bartoli, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, is trying to reprise her 2009 title run in Stanford as the WTA’s stars gear up for the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the year that starts in New York on August 29. Bartoli needed 1hr 26min to dispatch Canada’s Marino, breaking her in the final game to seal the victory on her fourth match point.
In the quarter-finals, Bartoli will face either Poland’s Urszula Radwanska or Japan’s Ayumi Morita. Morita opened her campaign with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over former world number one and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic on Tuesday.
Bartoli enjoyed a first-round bye, as did top two seeds Vicoria Azarenka of Belarus and Russian Maria Sharapova, and fourth-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur. Sharapova, who fell to Azarenka in the final last year, was to face Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova on Wednesday night for a place in
the quarter-finals.