Osaka, Japan – Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier upset second- seeded Zheng Jie of China on Thursday in second-round action at the HP Open.
Parmentier recorded six service breaks in a 6-3, 6-4 triumph and she will next face Britain's Heather Watson in the quarterfinals. Watson also ousted a seeded player, rallying from a set down to beat No. 6 Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-3.
South Africa's Chanelle Scheepers and Britain's Laura Robson joined Parmentier and Watson in the last eight.
The seventh-seeded Scheepers handled Croatia's Mirjana Lucic 6-2, 6-2, while the eighth-seeded Robson defeated Chinese qualifier Yi-Miao Zhou 6-4, 6-4.
Friday's other quarterfinals will pit top-seeded Aussie Samantha Stosur against American Jamie Hampton, Scheepers versus Japan's Misaki Doi and Robson against Taiwan's Kai-Chen Chang. Stosur was last year's Osaka runner-up to Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli and titled here in 2009.
This week's winner will earn a first prize of $37,000.
