French Open finalist Samantha Stosur and fifth-seeded Kim Clijsters reached the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne International with contrasting performances Wednesday. Third-seeded Stosur outlasted Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, needing three match points to close out a second-round match her Slovakian opponent started well. Clijsters, who won the Eastbourne title in 2005, needed just 38 minutes to sweep aside Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-0 and continue her good form in the Wimbledon warmup tournament. In the men's draw, top-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain was carried off court on a stretcher as he retired hurt against Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin while trailing 6-4, 1-0. Almagro slipped while trying to turn on the baseline and suffered a right hip injury. There was also a retirement in the women's competition, when Aravane Rezai of France sustained a right wrist injury and allowed Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez to progress, 6-2, 3-0. Victoria Azarenka of Belarus made the last eight by overwhelming British junior Heather Watson 6-1, 6-1 and eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France needed three match points before defeating Hungary's Agnes Szavay 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Clijsters, who is playing her first tournament since injuring her foot in a Fed Cup tie in April, has dropped just three games in her first two matches. The Belgian player allowed Safarova only seven points in the second set. Svetlana Kuznetsova, who has seen her ranking slide to 20 over the course of a disappointing season, needed two hours, 30 minutes to overcome Romania's Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4), and Nadia Petrova fell 6-2, 6-0 to qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in an all-Russian clash. In men's play, French pair Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra both made the quarterfinals. Fourth-seeded Benneteau defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (8), 7-5 and eighth-seeded Llodra edged compatriot Stephane Robert, 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-4. Seventh-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine beat Taiwan's Yen-hsun Lu 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-2. Henin in quarters In the Netherlands, top-seeded Justine Henin Wednesday advanced to the quarterfinals of the UNICEF Open in her first grass-court tournament in three years. Henin, the Belgian who began a 20-month retirement in May 2008, beat Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3, 6-3 in their second-round match. Fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania also secured a place in the last eight of the women's draw, with a win over Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1. In the men's competition, third-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain lost to German Simon Greul 6-1, 6-4, and Colombia's Santiago Giraldo knocked out fourth-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-4. Defending champion Benjamin Becker of Germany, seeded eighth, made it through by beating Henri Kontinen of Finland 6-2, 6
