Luxembourg, Luxembourg (Sports Network) - Top seed Roberta Vinci and
former world No. 1 Venus Williams were a pair of second-round winners Thursday
at the Luxembourg Open tennis event.
The Italian Vinci rolled past British lucky-loser Anne Keothavong 6-4, 6-1,
while the unseeded Williams ousted ninth-seeded German Mona Barthel 7-6 (7-4),
6-4 at CK Sportcenter Kockelscheuer.
The 2010 Luxembourg champion Vinci and Williams will do battle in Friday's
quarterfinals. The American is 2-0 lifetime against Vinci, with both meetings
coming two years ago.
More upsets came Thursday when Romanian Monica Niculescu drove out second-
seeded German Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-2, German Andrea Petkovic doused third-
seeded former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 7-5, 6-0 and Russian Ksenia
Pervak dismissed sixth-seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
Niculescu was last year's Luxembourg runner-up to current world No. 1 Victoria
Azarenka. Goerges was last week's Linz runner-up to Azarenka and lost
to Vinci in the Luxembourg finale two years ago.
One other second-round affair saw Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, the 2007
Luxembourg runner-up, hold off Belgian wild card Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 4-6,
6-2.
Friday's other quarters will pit Petkovic against Pervak, Spaniard Lourdes
Dominguez Lino versus Hantuchova and Czech Lucie Hradecka against Niculescu.
The 2012 winner of this $220,000 tournament will earn $37,000.
The Sports Network