BAD GASTEIN, Austria, July 26 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Francesca Schiavone was pushed to a third set Thursday before advancing to the quarterfinals of the $175,000 Gastein Ladies tennis event in Austria.
Schiavone took the first set in the clay-court match but managed just two games in the second before running away with the third set and match, beating Ruano Pascual 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. Schiavone next goes against sixth-seeded Agnes Szavay in Friday's quarterfinals.
Szavay owns a seven-match winning streak, having won a tournament last week, and takes a solid 7-5, 6-0 second-round decision from Dominika Cibulkova.
Also Thursday, fourth-seeded Kaia Kanepi defeated Klara Zakopalova 6-3, 6-4; No. 7 Karin Knapp beat Laura Pous Tio 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; and eighth-seeded Lourdes Dominguez Lino rallied to beat Emilia Salerni 0-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
Other second-round matches found Renata Voracova topping Edina Gallovits 6-2, 6-4; Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez outlasting Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6); and local favorite Yvonne Meusburger running past Eva Birnerova 6-4, 6-1.
In addition to the Schiavone-Szavay match, Friday's quarterfinals pair Kanepi against Voracova, Knapp versus Martinez Sanchez and Dominguez Lino with Meusburger.
