Out-of-sorts Bartoli reaches Paris quarters
Home favourite Marion Bartoli shook off some first-set rustiness to defeat Croatian Petra Martic 7-5, 6-1 on Thursday and take her place in the WTA Paris Open quarterfinals.
After breaks of serve were exchanged three times in the first eight games, Bartoli broke for a 6-5 lead when Martic put a forehand long and took the first set when the stretching Croatian could only find the net with a forehand.
Bartoli had served erratically in the first set, committing six double-faults, but Martic's challenge wilted in the second set and the 27-year-old second seed was able to close out a routine victory.
"It was my first match since the Australian Open, where I really hadn't played well against Zheng Jie in the third round," said Bartoli.
"I'd left off on a bad match, so it wasn't easy to get back on the horse. But once I'd won the first set, I started to hit the ball a lot better, which enabled me to raise my game.
"It's essentially a question of confidence, but it's never straightforward to come back after two weeks without playing."
Bartoli will now face Italy's Roberta Vinci after the seventh seed overcame a second-set slump to beat American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
A semifinalist at last year's French Open, Bartoli is the last Frenchwoman left in the draw after Pauline Parmentier lost 6-3, 6-0 to 21-year-old German qualifier Mona Barthel.
Earlier on Thursday, German ninth seed Angelique Kerber set up a last-eight encounter with top seed Maria Sharapova by beating Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Sharapova, the world No 3, swept into the quarterfinals with a straightforward 6-3, 6-1 defeat of South Africa's Chanelle Scheepers at the indoor tournament on Wednesday.