The three remaining top seeds at the ASB Tennis Classic in Auckland have all breezed into the quarter-finals, with fourth seed Francesca Schiavone beating Sarnia Mirza 6-0 6-3.
The Italian now faces France's Alize Cornet, who beat New Zealand's Marina Erakovic in straight sets on day two and had no problems on Wednesday with last year's finalist Elena Vesnina, thrashing the Russian 6-1 6-1.
Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, who upset second seed Li Na of China, came up short against Russian Maria Kirilenko, losing 6-2 6-3. Kirilenko now faces Israel's Shahar Peer in the quarters, who demolished an unsettled Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1 6-0 as pro-Palestinian protesters chanted and used a megaphone to disrupt the match outside. One was arrested.
Japan's 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm knocked out the fifth-seeded Frenchwoman, Virginie Razzano, 3-6 6-3 6-2, and now meets third seed Yanina Wickmayer in the quarter-finals.
Top seed Flavia Pennetta found Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro no challenge, winning 6-2 6-2 to set up a match against Dominika Cibulkova, who beat the 2008 finalist Aravane Rezai of France, also in straight sets.
