Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova beat top-seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-0, 6-2 Thursday in the second round of the Kremlin Cup, sending Jelena Jankovic to next week's season-ending WTA Championships. Zvonareva's loss guaranteed that Jankovic would seize the final berth for the tournament in Doha, Qatar, and the Serb responded by beating Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. Defending champion Jankovic was a break down in the first set but broke back to level at 5-5. Safarova then double faulted on match point to hand Jankovic the win. “I was really happy when I heard that I'd made it to Doha,” Jankovic said. “It was very important for me.” In the quarterfinals, the ninth-ranked Jankovic will play Russia's Alisa Kleybanova. The 126th-ranked Pironkova capitalized on Zvonareva's poor form in the first set, and an injury in the second. Trailing 3-2 on serve in the second set, Zvonareva called for a trainer to treat her knees, which had been taped all match. She lost the next three games. Pironkova's win was her second over a top-10 player. She beat then-No. 3 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the second round in Rome last season. The Bulgarian will next play Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine. Earlier, Maria Kirilenko of Russia beat Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-4, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Kirilenko will face eighth-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy, who defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-2, 7-5. In the men's tournament, Robby Ginepri of the US advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-0. Later, Evgeny Korolev ended Marat Safin's 12th attempt to win his hometown event, beating the former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion 6-4, 7-6 (4) in an all-Russian second-round match. Safin has said he will call time on his career at the end of the season. Soderling in last eight In Stockholm, top seed Robin Soderling grabbed another easy win in front of his home crowd Thursday to reach the Stockholm Open quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Italian Andreas Seppi. The Swedish world No. 10, who demolished Ecuadorian Giovanni Lapentti in his opening match, faces Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the last eight where no other seeds remain. German second seed Tommy Haas withdrew due to illness ahead of his match with Finn Jarkko Nieminen earlier in the day. Spanish eighth seed Feliciano Lopez, winner over Soderling in Shanghai last week, was beaten 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 by Belgian Olivier Rochus who next faces Nieminen. Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus showed continuing good form during his 6-2, 6-2 win over American doubles specialist Robert Kendrick. Former top 10 player Baghdatis next faces Arnaud Clement after the Frenchman saved a match point to beat German Michael Berrer 3-6, 7-6, 6-1. Players escape bans Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse will not face suspensions despite falling foul of drug-testing rules, the Belga press agency reported Thursday. The disciplinary commission of the Flemish Doping Tribunal (VDT) has instead requested a reprimand for the duo. Twenty-year-old Wickmayer was accused of failing on three occasions to fulfill the ADAMS (Anti-Doping Administration and Management System) requirements.
