LEIPZIG, Germany, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Kim Clijsters moved closer to her third Sparkassen Cup title Thursday with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Russian Nadia Petrova in the second round.
Clijsters, the fourth seed from Belgium, is seeking to become the first three-time winner of this event since Steffi Graf captured four straight titles here from 1990-93.
The 19-year-old Clijsters produced her second runner-up effort last week at the Princess Cup in Tokyo. She won her lone title of the year at Hamburg in May and was a finalist at Stanford in July.
Clijsters, who received a first-round bye, will play wild card Barbara Rittner of Germany in the quarterfinals. Rittner ousted No. 7 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Rittner advanced to her second quarterfinal of the season and fourth at Leipzig. This is the 29-year-old German's 11th appearance at this event, the most among active players.
Sixth seed Anastasia Myskina got past Czech qualifier Kveta Hrdlickova, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, and next faces American Meghann Shaughnessy in the quarterfinals.
The 21-year-old Russian won her second career title and first Tier II crown two weeks ago in Brazil, moving her ranking up to a career-high No. 12. She has been a finalist at two other events this season and reached the semifinals at New Haven last month.
Slovakia's Janette Husarova outlasted American Alexandra Stevenson, 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (8-6), for the right to take on world No. 1 Serena Williams in the last eight.
