Gisela Dulko, Second Seed, Advances; Quarterfinal Line-Up Set

Gisela Dulko, Second Seed, Advances; Quarterfinal Line-Up Set

Gisela Dulko followed top seed Anabel Medina Garrigues into the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem with a straight set win over one of her nemeses on Thursday afternoon.

Dulko, the No.2 seed at the Tier IV stop, overcame crafty Frenchwoman Emilie Loit for the first time in three career encounters in somewhat of a rout, requiring just 67 minutes to prevail, 63 62. In the pair's two previous meetings Loit went in as the underdog and won both times, in straight sets at Acapulco in 2006 and in three at the same stop in 2007. But the rankings held true to form this time as the 62nd-ranked Argentine broke the world No.102 four times en route to victory.


Also moving through to the quarterfinals Thursday afternoon were No.6 seed Alisa Kleybanova, who downed qualifier Arina Rodionova, 67(3) 63 64, and No.7 seed Sorana Cirstea, who bounced junior phenom Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, also a qualifier, 64 62. In the last match of the day, No.4 seed Aravane Rezai took out Rossana de los Ríos, 76(2) 60.

The first four quarterfinalists were determined Wednesday. Top-seeded Medina Garrigues had the toughest match, warranting off a match point to beat Sesil Karatantcheva in a nail-biter, 36 76(4) 61. Olga Savchuk, Petra Cetkovska and Greta Arn also secured berths in the round of eight.

The last doubles quarterfinal took the court on Thursday with Johanna Larsson and Rodionova taking out Catalina Castaño and Anne Kremer, 75 76(3). The first three doubles quarterfinals all took place Wednesday.

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