Eastbourne, England – Reigning champion Marion Bartoli and rising German star Angelique Kerber won their second-round matches Wednesday at the Aegon International tennis event, a final Wimbledon tune-up.
The fourth-seeded Bartoli continued her winning ways at this tournament with a 58-minute 6-2, 6-2 pasting of Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak, while a fifth- seeded Kerber cruised past South African Chanelle Scheepers 6-3, 6-2 in 67 minutes at Devonshire Park.
The 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli beat reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in last year's Eastbourne finale.
Up next for the French Bartoli will be seventh-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova, while the lefthanded Kerber will meet former Eastbourne champ Ekaterina Makarova in Thursday's quarterfinals.
In other action involving seeds on Day 3, Safarova handled British wild card Heather Watson 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, Klara Zakopalova upended No. 6 fellow Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-1, 1-6, 6-2, and Austrian Tamira Paszek toppled No. 8 Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Hantuchova was the Eastbourne runner-up in 2004.
Meanwhile, Bulgarian grass-courter Tsvetana Pironkova got past Canadian qualifier Stephanie Dubois 6-0, 4-6, 6-4, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova bested American Christina McHale 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, and Makarova downed British qualifier Laura Robson 6-4, 7-5. Makarova captured the title here two years ago.
Two other quarterfinals will pit Pironkova against Paszek and Zakopalova versus Pavlyuchenkova.
The winner of this $637,000 event will collect $107,000.
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