Moscow, Oct 20: Marion Bartoli of France kept her chances of qualifying for the WTA Championships alive on Thursday after she beat Ksenia Pervak of Russia 6-1, 6-1 in the second round of the Kremlin Cup.
In the men's second round, Jeremy Chardy of France upset third-seeded Aleksandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (6).
The third-seeded Bartoli, fresh off her seventh career triumph at the Japan Open, needs to take the title in Moscow to secure the last spot for the season-ending event in Istanbul next week.
"I really do not think of it," Bartoli said. "I'm just trying to fight for every point when I'm on the court and I try to play the best I can. And then we'll see where it takes me."
Agnieszka Radwanska, who leads Bartoli by 330 points, lost to Lucie Safarova on Wednesday to leave Bartoli in control of clinching her place.
After dropping her first serve, the eighth-ranked Bartoli won 11 consecutive games for a set and 5-0 lead.
Pervak then saved five match points on serve before Bartoli closed out the match with an ace.
"For the first 15-20 minutes, there were very tight games," Bartoli said. "And though I was leading, every game was really close. But then I began serving better."
Pervak said she could not find her rhythm and didn't expected Bartoli to play "so strong and be so motivated" in her first match here.
In Friday's quarterfinals, Bartoli will play Elena Vesnina, who earlier beat her fellow Russian Ekaterina Ivanova, a qualifier, 6-3, 6-4.
In other women's second round matches, eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 7-6(5), 6-2.
