Shenzhen, China (SportsNetwork.com) - Simona Halep of Romania was among the second-round winners Wednesday at the season-opening Shenzhen Open tennis tournament.
The top-seeded Halep cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russian wild card Natalia Vikhlyantseva to reach the quarterfinals.
Next up for the French Open runner-up will be Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic, who rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 triumph over Slovakia's Anna Schmiedlova.
Eighth-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland also advanced Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Italy's Karin Knapp, setting up a quarterfinal against Russian veteran Vera Zvonareva. The former Wimbledon and U.S. Open runner-up followed her first-round upset of third-seeded Peng Shuai with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win against Turkish qualifier Cagla Buyukakcay.
Also Wednesday, Tereza Smitkova beat fellow Czech native Katerina Siniakova, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, earning a quarterfinal matchup with countrymate Petra Kvitova. The second seed advanced Tuesday with a second-round win over Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski.
Thursday's remaining quarterfinal will pit fourth-seeded Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan against China's Zheng Saisai -- both second-round winners Tuesday.
Shenzhen serves as a tune-up for the Australian Open, which will begin Jan. 19 in Melbourne.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.