Moscow, Oct 18 : Former top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup on Wednesday by beating Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 6-3, while second-seeded Marion Bartoli was knocked out.
Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden posted the biggest surprise of the tournament so far by eliminating Bartoli 6-3, 6-0 in the second round.
The third-seeded Wozniacki easily avoided an upset by winning five consecutive games in the first set and then broke Radwanska twice in the second to take a 5-2 lead.
She then wasted four match points when trying to serve out the match before Radwanska broke to stay in the contest, but the Pole sent a forehand wide in the next game to hand Wozniacki the victory.
“I had many chances (to close the match) but I've made a couple of mistakes and I managed to close it out in the next game,” Wozniacki said.
The Dane is looking for her second title of the year and 20th of her career.
She will next play defending champion Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who advanced to the final eight with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.
“I played her (Cibulkova) in New Heaven this year and I won,” Wozniacki said. “She won the tournament here last year so of course it won't be easy—she likes the court, she like to play here.”
Arvidsson broke Bartoli three times and dropped serve twice in the first set. The Frenchwoman had six double faults in the second set.
Arvidsson, who won her second career title in Memphis this year, will face either seventh-seeded Maria Kirilenko or Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.
“I am very happy to win this match to reach the quarterfinals,” Arvidsson said.
“Marion is a great competitor, a top-10 player, and I knew I would have to be at my best. My strategy was to focus on the way I wanted to play and move her around the court.”
The result means the 10th-ranked Bartoli can't overtake No. 9 Samantha Stosur and will remain the second alternate at the season-ending WTA Championships next week in Istanbul.
“Of course it would have been better for me to come to Istanbul as the first substitute, but it's always very rewarding for me to get a chance to go there,” Bartoli said.
“Today my body just refused to execute what my mind was telling it to do. The surface here is very slow and it didn't fit my play well.”
Klara Zakopalova advanced to the final eight by defeating eighth-seeded Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-4 in all-Czech match, while Valeria Solovieva of Russia moved into the second round by downing Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 6-2.
In first-round action, Kirilenko topped fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 7-5, 6-1.
“I think for me it was a match of lost chances,” Vesnina said.
“At 5-4 in the first set I lost concentration, while Masha (Kirilenko) played her best. It was the key moment of the match.”
In men's second-round play, Malek Jaziri of Tunisia upset the third-seeded 2010 champion Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Eighth-seeded Tatsuma Ito of Japan defeated Russian qualifier Konstantin Kravchuk7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-3, while Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic rallied past fifth-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
