Fes, Morocco – Top seed Anabel Medina Garrigues eased into the quarterfinals, while injured two-time Grand Slam event champion Svetlana Kuznetsova bowed out in the second round Wednesday at the $220,000 Moroccan Grand Prix tennis event.
The 2009 champion and 2008 Fes runner-up Medina Garrigues grounded Luxembourg's Mandy Minella 6-2, 6-3, while the second-seeded Kuznetsova succumbed to a leg injury while trailing Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 3-2 on Day 3.
Two other seeds left the draw, as Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens bounced No. 6 South African Chanelle Scheepers 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 and France's Mathilde Johansson overcame No. 8 Israeli Shahar Peer 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on the red clay at Royal Tennis Club de Fes Complexe Sportif.
Additional upsets were avoided when third-seeded Czech Petra Cetkovska handled Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-2 and fifth-seeded Simona Halep bested fellow Romanian Alexandra Cadantu 6-2, 7-5. Halep is the reigning two-time runner-up in Fes, having lost to Italian Alberta Brianti in last year's finale.
Also on Wednesday, Spanish qualifier Garbine Muguruza Blanco beat Austrian Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6-4, retired and Spaniard Laura Pous-Tio doused Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 6-3, 7-5. Mayr-Achleitner quit with a right hip injury.
Thursday's quarters will pit Medina Garrigues against Halep; Cetkovska versus the lucky-loser Johansson; Pous-Tio against Begu; and Muguruza Blanco versus Bertens.
The 2012 Fes champ will take home $37,000.
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