Baltacha beats Schiavone

Baltacha: Amazing feeling

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Elena Baltacha has reached the quarter-finals of the Istanbul Cup with a straight sets victory over top seed and French Open champion Francesca Schiavone.

The British number one, who struggled against Turkish wild-card Cagla Buyukakcay in the first round, found her game in stunning style on Thursday to beat the Italian 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 25 minutes.

Baltacha broke her opponent's serve five times on her way to claiming a place in the last eight - the third time she has achieved such a feat this year. She now plays German sixth seed Andrea Petkovic.

Speaking after the victory, Baltacha said: "I'm really proud of today. I've had such a great year, it feels amazing.

"I'd like to think that this is the real Elena Baltacha. I'm beginning to perform much more consistently week in, week out and I'm improving a lot as a player. I still have a few things to work on but I feel that every week I'm adding a lot of positives to my game."

Fighting

When asked about quarter-final opponent Petkovic, Baltacha added: "Every opponent is different and every opponent has a different style, all of the girls here are top players and all can play great tennis.

"I'm going into my next match against Petkovic fighting as hard as I can, trying to play the best tennis I can. Petkovic plays very differently to Schiavone, she plays a much faster ball, she will attack more and has a faster serve. I take it one match at a time and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow."

Meanwhile, third seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova progressed with a 6-3 6-2 win over Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia. Romania's Sorana Cirstea and Austria's Jarmila Groth completed the last eight line-up.