Bartoli powers to quarters

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS -- Second-seeded Marion Bartoli powered past Petra Martic of Croatia 7-5, 6-1 to reach the Open GDF Suez quarterfinals on Thursday.

Roberta Vinci of Italy and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium also moved into the quarters along with Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic and German pair Mona Barthel and Angelique Kerber.

Bartoli hit a forehand return winner to clinch victory. The Frenchwoman won seven consecutive games to lead 4-0 in the second set despite seven double faults.

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"My serve cost me in the first set," Bartoli said. "Either I was making double faults or I was serving too softly.

"She's a girl who returns very well and who hits the ball hard. She troubled me right away. Fortunately, I managed to break her otherwise I could have lost that first set."

Martic saved 16 break points but her form dropped in the final set.

"The rallies exhausted her a bit," Bartoli said. "I felt great physically therefore I got the upper hand in the second set."

Vinci beat American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

The seventh-seeded Italian broke twice in the final set, clinching victory when Mattek-Sands sent a backhand into the net.

Mattek-Sands struggled with her serve in the first set, making four double-faults and landing only 45 per cent of her first serves.

But the American jumped out to 5-0 in the next set to level the match when Vinci sent a forehand wide.

Mattek-Sands finished the match despite a lower back injury. She was in pain at 3-2 in the decider, sobbing during the changeover and calling a therapist to massage her left hip and thigh.

Wickmayer ousted American teenager Christina McHale 6-2, 7-5.

McHale saved three match points at 5-4, but Wickmayer converted her fourth match point when the youngest player in the top 50 sent a backhand wide.

Barthel defeated Pauline Parmentier 6-3, 6-0, hitting 26 winners to 6 for the French wild card. The German qualifier, who won the Hobart International last month in Australia, converted her second match point with a backhand crosscourt winner.

Zakopalova advanced to her first quarterfinal since the Korea Open in September, cruising past Tsvetana Pironkova 6-0, 6-3.

Kerber, a U.S. Open semifinalist, edged out Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

In Friday's quarters, Kerber plays top-seeded Maria Sharapova, Wickmayer faces Barthel, Zakopalova meets sixth-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany and Vinci takes on Bartoli.