Top seeds Ana Ivanovic and Vera Zvonareva claimed straight-set victories on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the Linz Open.
Number one seed Ivanovic of Serbia overcame a strong but inconsistent challenge from Austrian left-hander Sybille Bammer to win 6-4 6-2, while Russia’s Zvonareva took just 53 minutes to defeat Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain 6-2 6-0.
Ivanovic had struggled since winning the French Open but she returned to form last week in Zurich, reaching the semi-finals.
She maintained that form against Bammer, playing aggressively and looking for opportunities to come to the net, although it took her time to get into her stride.
Ivanovic broke to lead 1-0 but then allowed Bammer to level at 2-2. The next two games also went against serve, before Ivanovic faced another break point that would have left Bammer serving for the set at 5-3.
The Serb held off the threat with a high backhand volley, and went on to break Bammer to lead 5-4 before closing out the set with an ace.
Ivanovic looked more comfortable in the second set, moving better and showing more consistency. Although Bammer engaged her in several competitive rallies, it was usually the Austrian who made the error.
A double-fault gave Ivanovic a break for 2-1 and a further break for 5-2 left her serving for victory, and she once again claimed the set with an ace.
“I’m very happy with the way I played today,” Ivanovic told reporters. “She’s a tough opponent. She brings a lot of balls back and makes you work hard for your points, so to have a victory like this in two sets is definitely good.”
Zvonareva experienced little resistance from Llagostera Vives, with her aggressive baseline game often forcing errors.
The Russian broke twice to lead 5-1, and although she netted a backhand to lose the next game she broke once more for the set. The second set was entirely one-sided, and ended when the Spaniard hit her fifth double-fault.
Sixth seed Marion Bartoli also progressed after struggling to overcome Czech qualifier Petra Kvitova 7-6 1-6 6-3 and fifth seed Nadia Petrova beat Katarina Srebotnik 6-4 7-6.
Fourth seed Patty Schnyder was upset 6-2 2-6 6-1 by Alona Bondarenko, but seventh seed Flavia Pennetta beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 6-1.