Wed May 21 10:28:13 2008

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Dementieva lands in Istanbul QFs

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Istanbul, Turkey (Sports Network) - Top-seeded and defending champion Elena Dementieva highlighted Wednesday's second-round winners at the $200,000 Istanbul Cup tennis event, a final clay-court French Open tuneup.

The two-time Grand Slam runner-up Dementieva got past Romanian qualifier Liana Ungur 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) on Day 3 here. The hard-hitting Russian beat France's Aravane Rezai in last year's Istanbul finale.

Dementieva's quarterfinal opponent on Thursday will be seventh-seeded Jill Craybas, who easily topped fellow American Vania King 6-4, 6-2.

Second-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska double-bageled Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-0, while third-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova pasted Poland's Marta Domachowska 6-2, 6-2. Radwanska will meet Slovenian Andreja Klepac on Thursday, while Petrova will take on sixth-seeded Uzbekistanian Akgul Amanmuradova.

In other action involving seeds, No. 4 Belarusian Olga Govortsova grounded Italian Nathalie Vierin 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, Amanmuradova erased Japan's Aiko Nakamura 6-3, 6-3 and No. 8 Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova pummeled Czech qualifier Veronika Chvojkova 6-2, 6-1. Govortsova will tangle with Pironkova in the quarters.

One other second-round result saw Klepac come from behind to cut down Canadian Stephanie Dubois 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

The 2008 Istanbul titlist will collect $30,500.