Top-seeded French tennis player Amelie Mauresmo and number-two Nadia Petrova of Russia have advanced to the third round of the German Open clay-court tournament in Berlin, Germany.
Mauresmo cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Vera Dushevina of Russia on Wednesday, while Petrova knocked out fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, 6-1, 7-6. Three other Russian seeds also advanced as number-five Elena Dementieva, sixth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and number-16 Maria Kirilenko all won.
Dementieva advanced past Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko, who retired down 6-3, 2-0. Kuznetsova needed three sets to get past Martina Muller of Germany (6-3, 3-6, 6-0), while Kirilenko upended Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-3. Eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia won her match, topping Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik, 6-4, 0-6, 6-1.
Two seeded players were also beaten, with number-seven Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany losing to Catalina Castano of Colombia, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and 16th-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues falling 6-3, 6-4 to Russia's Anna Chakvetadze.
Other players moving into the third round were Martina Hingis of Switzerland, China's Li Na and Zheng Jie, Dinara Safina of Russia and Austria's Sybille Bammer. The clay-court tournament is one of several events players are using to prepare for the French Open, which starts May 29 in Paris.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP .