Moscow: Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden advanced to the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup by beating Marion Bartoli of France 6-3, 6-0, while Russia's Maria Kirilenko defeated her compatriot and wild card Elena Vesnina.
Arvidsson broke Bartoli three times and dropped serve twice in the first set of the second-round match. The Frenchwoman had six double-faults in the second set. Arvidsson, who won her second career title in Memphis earlier this year, will face Alize Cornet of France.
The result means the 10th-ranked Bartoli can't overtake No. 9 Samantha Stosur and will remain the second alternate at the season-ending WTA Championships next week in Istanbul.
Seventh seed Kirilenko had to survive a set point in the first set before surging back with two breaks of serve. She raced through the second for a 7-5, 6-1 victory. Kirilenko, who is having the best season in her career, is still in chase of her first Kremlin Cup title and hopes to go one better than 2010, when she lost the final to current world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.
Kirilenko next plays Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, who had ended the hopes of another Russian player in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Earlier, Klara Zakopalova ousted eighth seed and Czech compatriot Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-4. Russia's Valeria Solovieva won a battle of two qualifiers against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, prevailing 6-4, 6-2 to set up a second-round match with fourth seed Ana Ivanovic.
Samantha Stosur is the top seed for the $740,000 hard-court event, which runs through Sunday in the Russian capital.
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