China's Peng downs holder Kirilenko in Beijing

BEIJING, Sep 20 (Reuters) China's Peng Shuai outlasted Russia's defending champion Maria Kirilenko 5-7 6-4 6-2 today to reach the quarter-finals of the China Open.

Eighth seed Kirilenko, who played her first-round match last evening, was beaten for the first time in seven contests at the Beijing Tennis Centre.

Peng, one of four Chinese to reach the second round at the 600,000 dollar tournament, was edged out in the first set but broke the 19-year-old Russian early in the second and never looked back.

''She was the defending champion and ranks higher than me but I was playing at home and the crowd the were cheering for me,'' 20-year-old Peng said.

''When I lost the first set, everybody was encouraging me, so I never gave up until the last point. I think I'm going to get better and better and see how far I can go.'' The world number 60 booked a spot in the last eight when Kirilenko double-faulted for the 10th time after two hours and 33 minutes and she will next meet Ai Sugiyama after the Japanese upset Czech world number 10 Nicole Vaidisova, seeded fourth here, 6-4 1-6 6-3.

''The third set was hard for me,'' said Kirilenko. ''She played really well and I made a few mistakes. But you can't just hit the ball hard, you have to mix it up a bit.'' Second seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova received a bye in the second round and went through to the quarter-finals when Croatian qualifier Jelena Kostanic retired in the third game of their contest.

France's Marion Bartoli, runner up to Kuznetsova in Bali last week, reached the second round with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues.

American fifth seed and former world number one Lindsay Davenport struggled to a 7-6 3-6 7-5 victory over Russian Anna Chakvetadze to set up a second round appointment with China's Zheng Jie.

''I'm happy to have gotten through,'' Davenport said ''It was a difficult game and a close one as well. My opponent played really well. I'm happy to be playing again tomorrow.'' REUTERS DH PM2117