Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic outshone her teenage rivals and the richer men's event to reach the quarter-finals of the Japan Open tennis tournament hereon Thursday.
Fresh from her victory at the Korea Open last weekend, the 16-year-old second seed shrugged off a service break deficit to beat Japan's Rika Fujiwara 6-4, 6-2.
Maria Kirilenko of Rusia, 18, who posted her first career title at the China Open two weeks ago, outclassed Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-2, while Tatiana Golovin of France, 17, breezed past Saori Obata of Japan 6-1, 6-4.
India's rising star Sania Mirza, 18, made quick work of another Japanese, Aiko Nakamura, 6-1, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final match against top seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Zvonareva downed Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 7-5 earlier in the day.
Despite her win, Vaidisova was unhappy with her performance.
"I don't feel good about today's match, I didn't play well, I have to improve, so definitely I'm not happy with the way I played," she said after the 67-minute match.
"I don't know why I played so bad today, especially at the start. I made too many unforced errors, I just didn't get into my rhythm today. After 4-3 down, I just tried to stay calm, focus and play.
"I just needed to stay calm, try to hit the shots I usually do and it paid off. Today, it was enough, but you don't know what's gonna happen the following couple of days," she said.
Mirza, who became the first woman from India to clinch a WTA title, winning in her home town of Hyderabad in February, aggressively attacked Nakamura's short balls and weak serves. She raced to a 4-0 lead and never faced serious trouble afterwards.
"I thought I played a good match. I had a solid start to the match in the first set. In the second set, she picked up her game, but I think I played well when it mattered on the important points," Mirza, the eighth seed, said.
Meanwhile, unseeded American Jill Craybas eliminated sixth seed Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-3, 6-3 to earn a place against Kirilenko.
There were upsets in the men's event with former Japan Open champions, Rainer Schuettler of Germany and Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, losing. Schuettler, the 2003 winner, bowed out to seventh seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 1-6, 1-6 in the second round, while 2002 champion Carlsen, seeded 10th, went down to Bjorn Phau of Germany 1-6, 2-6 in the third round.
RESULTS (x denotes seeds):
MEN'S SINGLES (2nd round): Mario Ancic (CRO x5) bt Jan-Michael Gambill (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Cyril Saulnier (FRA x12) bt Raemon Sluiter (NED) 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5; Wayne Arthurs (AUS) bt Juan Monaco (ARG x16) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Taylor Dent (USA x4) bt Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3); Radek Stepanek (CZE x2) bt Jiri Vanek (CZE) 7-5, 6-4; Luis Horna (PER x11) bt Roko Karanusic (CRO) 6-2, 7-5; Jarkko Nieminen (FIN x7) bt Rainer Schuettler (GER) 6-1, 6-1; Wesley Moodie (RSA) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x6) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
3rd Round: Bjorn Phau (GER) bt Kenneth Carlsen (DEN x10) 6-1, 6-2; Robby Ginepri (USA x3) bt Gilles Muller (LUX x13) 6-4, 6-4.
WOMEN'S SINGLES (2nd round): Vera Zvonareva (RUS x1) bt Shahar Peer (ISR) 6-3, 7-5; Sania Mirza (IND x8) bt Aiko Nakamura (JPN) 6-1, 6-4; Jill Craybas (USA) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG x6) 6-3, 6-3; Maria Kirilenko (RUS x4) bt Henrieta Nagyova (SVK) 6-4, 6-2; Tatiana Golovin (FRA x3) bt Saori Obata (JPN) 6-1, 6-4; Nicole Vaidisova (CZE x2) bt Rika Fujiwara (JPN) 6-4, 6-2; Ai Sugiyama (JPN x5) bt Camille Pin (FRA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
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