Third seed Marion Bartoli of France defeated Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek 6-2 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the Generali Ladies Linz on Thursday. The 2007 Wimbledon finalist seemed completely unaffected by the knee injury that forced her to retire in Zurich last week.
“My knee was not 100 percent but still okay and I was able to play,” Bartoli, who lost only one point on serve in the first set, told reporters.
“I feel sometimes a little pain especially when I have to take a hard step on my left foot, so I tried not to hit too hard and just put the ball to the right spot.”
All the Linz Open quarterfinalists are known now: Anna Chakvetadze, Patty Schnyder, Marion Bartoli, Julia Vakulenko, Nicole Vaidisova, Dinara Safina, Alona Bondarenko, and Daniela Hantuchova.
