Paris, France – French crowd favorite Marion Bartoli was an round winner Thursday in Paris.
The second-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up handled Croat Petra Martic 7-5, 6-1 on Day 3 at the Open GDF Suez.
Bartoli's quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be seventh-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci, who moved on by outlasting American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 at Stade Pierre de Coubertin.
In other second-round play, Belgian Yanina Wickmayer topped American Christina McHale 6-2, 7-5; German Angelique Kerber held off Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; rising German Mona Barthel handled French wild card Pauline Parmentier 6-3, 6-0; and Czech Klara Zakopalova zipped past Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-0, 6-3. Barthel, a qualifier this week who captured her first-ever WTA title in Hobart last month, will battle Wickmayer on Friday.
Kerber should have her hands full with top-seeded Maria Sharapova in the round of eight.
Another quarterfinal will pit Zakopalova against sixth-seeded German Julia Goerges.
The winner of this $637,000 event will pocket $107,000.
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