Tournament favourite Mary Pierce (France) and qualifier Maria Kirilenko (Russia) on Wednesday registered contrasting victories to move into the quarter-finals of the singles event in the $140,000 WTA Indian Open in Hyderabad.
Pierce, displaying superior judgement and court craft, took just 48 minutes to dislodge the challenge of Evie Dominikovic (Australia) 6-3 6-1 while the Russian girl fought back from one-set deficit to register a remarkable win against seventh seed Angelique Widjaja (Indonesia) 5-7 7-5 6-3 in a marathon 150-minute duel.
Others who made it to the last eight stage include giant killer Akiko Morigami (Japan), Tzipora Obziler (Israel), fifth seed Iroda Tulyaganova (Uzbekistan) and eighth seed Silvia Talaja (Cor).
Second seed Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) had little difficulty in beating Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) 6-3 6-3 and for Flavia Pennetta (Italy) victory came easy as she brushed aside Tian Tian Sun (China) 6-2 6-2 to complete the quarter-final line-up.
