CARLSBAD (California), July 19: Top seed Marion Bartoli survived a struggle lasting for more than three hours, with the Frenchwoman overcoming a massive 18 double-faults to advanced at the WTA hardcourt event here on Wednesday.
Bartoli defeated American Vania King 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in an error-plagued marathon match to reach the quarter-finals after a bye in the first round.
Bartoli, who will not play in the London Olympics due to a longstanding dispute with the French federation, won a battle in which both women took lengthy injury breaks, with Bartoli going off court for treatment in the third set.
Bartoli advanced despite losing serve eight times against the world 59th-ranked King.
The French player lost serve in the opening game of the final set but fought to get it back as she broke for four-all before closing out thematch at La Costa on a concluding break.
US Olympian Varvara Lepchenko upset South African eighth seed Chanelle Scheepers 6-4, 6-2 to reach her third quarter-final of the season.
Lepchenko next takes on fourth seed Nadia Petrova, who beat American Alexa Glatch 6-4, 6-3.
Taiwanese qualifier Chan Yung-Jan beat Britain’s Heather Watson 6-3, 7-6.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Second round: Chan Yung-Jan (Taiwan) bt Heather Watson (Britain) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2); Varvara Lepchenko (US) bt 8-Chanelle Scheepers (South Africa) 6-4, 6-2; 4-Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Alexa Glatch (US) 6-4, 6-3; 1-Marion Bartoli (France) bt Vania King (US) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
NISHIKORI FACES SOEDA
ATLANTA (Georgia): Japanese tennis stars Kei Nishikori and Go Soeda are ATP Tour opponents one week, and Olympic team-mates the next.
Nishikori and Soeda posted second-round victories to set up an all-Japanese quarter-final with their post-midnight wins at the Atlanta Open tournament on Wednesday.
It marks the first time the pair will square off against each other as professionals. Soeda turned pro in 2003 and Nishikori turned pro four years later.
The third-seeded Nishikori outlasted Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, while the eighth-seeded Soeda routed Russian Igor Kunitsyn, 6-1, 7-5 on a day when the matches at Atlantic Station were postponed five hours because of bad weather.
Results:
Second round: 4-Andy Roddick (US) bt Nicolas Mahut (France) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Michael Russell (US) bt 5-Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4; 3-Kei
Nishikori (Japan) bt Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4; 8-Go Soeda (Japan) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) 6-1, 7-5.
HAAS DOWNS SIMON
HAMBURG: Veteran Tommy Haas rallied to upset defending champion Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday for a place in the quarter-finals of the German Open.
Haas beat Roger Federer for the title in Halle, Germany, in June and is looking to become the first home player to win the tournament since Michael Stich in 1993.
Haas will next meet another German, Florian Mayer, who routed Robin Haase 6-2, 6-1.
Results:
Second round: Albert Ramos (Spain) bt Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-3; 4-Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Federico Del Bonis (Argentina) 6-3, 6-2; 7-Florian Mayer (Germany) bt Robin Haase (Netherlands) 6-2, 6-1; Tommy Haas (Germany) bt 2-Gilles Simon (France) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.—Agencies