Kanepi, Suarez Navarro reach Portugal Open QFs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Last year's final combatants -- reigning champion Kaia Kanepi and Carla Suarez Navarro -- were among Wednesday's second-round winners at the $235,000 Portugal Open tennis event.
Kanepi upset fifth-seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-2, while a fourth- seeded Suarez Navarro handled Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-4, 6-3 at this clay- court French Open tune-up. Wickmayer captured this event in Estoril back in 2009.
Kanepi, who recently returned to action after being sidelined since last year due to a heel injury, beat Suarez Navarro in last year's final in Estoril.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Estonian Kanepi's quarterfinal opponent on Thursday will be Japan's Ayumi Morita, while the Spanish Suarez Navarro will meet Portuguese lucky loser Monica Puig.
In other second-round action involving seeds, No. 3 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia topped Spanish qualifier Estrella Cabeza Candela 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and No. 7 Elena Vesnina, also from Russia, straight-setted Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-4, 6-4.
Also on Day 3, Puig upended last week's Marrakech and former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-2; former top-five Russian star and two- time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Kazakhstani qualifier Galina Voskoboeva 6-4, 6-4; Swiss Romina Oprandi charged past Chinese Peng Shuai 6-1, 6-3; and the aforementioned Morita mauled Pole Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-3.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The other quarterfinals will pit Pavlyuchenkova against her compatriot Vesnina and the former French Open titlist and wild card Kuznetsova versus Oprandi.
This week's Portugal Open champion will pocket $42,000.