Den Bosch, Netherlands – Top seed and 2011 champion Roberta Vinci was an opening-round winner, while third-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro booked a spot in the quarterfinals at the $235,000 Topshelf Open, a final grass-court Wimbledon tune-up.
The Italian veteran Vinci vaulted past Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-3, while Spain's Suarez Navarro cruised past Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-4 in second-round action at Autotron Rosmalen.
Two other women joined Suarez Navarro in the quarters, as seventh-seeded Pole Urszula Radwanska was leading Magdalena Rybarikova 4-3 in the first set on Day 3 when the Slovak retired, and Bulgarian grass-court specialist Tsvetana Pironkova topped Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 7-6 (9-7), 6-2. Radwanska was last year's Den Bosch runner-up to Russian Nadia Petrova. Pironkova will battle Suarez Navarro here in the round of eight.
In some other first-round play on Tuesday, fourth-seeded Belgian Kirsten Flipkens overcame former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 and Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko was leading Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 5-0 in the first set when last week's Birmingham champion retired.
On Wednesday, Vinci will face last week's Nuremberg, Germany, titlist Simona Halep in a second-round affair.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.