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Tennis-Petrova, Safina ease through in Luxembourg
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-30 09:38

LUXEMBOURG, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Second seed Nadia Petrova strolled into the Luxembourg Open quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-1 win over Kveta Peschke on Thursday.

Another Russian, Dinara Safina, seeded seventh, beat Slovak qualifier Jamila Gajdosova 6-3 6-1 to reach the last eight where she was joined by fourth seed Nathalie Dechy of France, Italian Roberta Vinci and German Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

Kim Clijsters, who played on Wednesday, is the number one seed and top draw for the tournament, the first she has played since capturing the U.S. Open title this month.

Czech Peshke started well and was in contention throughout the first set but once Petrova broke her early in the second she cruised to victory.

Petrova overcame a bout of lethargy before the match but soon found her form.

"To be honest, this morning I didn't feel like playing," she told reporters. "I have been here since Saturday and only played my first match on Thursday so I had a lazy feeling.

"But as soon as I stepped on court everything turned around and my legs felt back and I was ready to fight."

Safina admitted coming into the tournament with low expectations having bowed out of the U.S. Open in the first round, although she did team up with Elena Dementieva to win the deciding doubles in last week's Fed Cup final against France.
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Federica Ridolfi
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