BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Ludmila Cervanova of Slovakia stunned No. 6 Meilen Tu of the United States Wednesday at the Slovak Indoor, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the final eight of a WTA event for just the third time in her career.
Cervanova won Wednesday's lone second-round contest as No. 3 Francesca Schiavone, No. 4 Rita Grande and No. 7 Nathalie Dechy all posted straight-sets victories in their first-round matches.
Schiavone pulled away to beat Hungary's Petra Mandula, 7-5, 6-2. The Italian, whose only appearance in a tour final came at the 2000 event in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, will meet Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic on Thursday.
In another success for Italy, Grande routed Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-1, 6-0. She awaits a second-round clash with American Jennifer Hopkins, who lost to Grande in the final of the ANZ Tasmanian International at Hobart, Australia in January.
Hopkins won her opening-round match with Slovak wild card entrant Lenka Dhlopolcova, 6-4, 7-5.
Dechy also breezed through the opening round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Czech Adriana Gersi. The French Olympian has yet to advance to a WTA final this year after accomplishing the feat twice in 2000. Dechy's next opponent is German Bianka Lamade.
In a battle of qualifiers, Adriana Serra-Zanetti of Italy beat Lubomira Kurhajkova of Slovakia, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).
