Russians Petrova, Chakvetadze reach quarters in Moscow

MOSCOW, Oct 12 (Reuters) Fifth seed Nadia Petrova and her unseeded Russian compatriot Anna Chakvetadze reached the Kremlin Cup quarter-finals with straight sets victories today.

Petrova beat Elena Likhovtseva 6-3 7-5 and now faces another Russian, Vera Zvonareva, while Chakvetadze got past last year's runner-up Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6 6-4 to set up a last eight meeting with number two seed Maria Sharapova.

Swiss sixth seed Patty Schnyder battled to a 7-6 1-6 6-1 win over Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova and faces either Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva or Israel's Shahar Peer.

Another Czech, eighth seed Nicole Vaidisova, had better luck with a 6-4 6-1 win over Australia's Samantha Stosur.

Top seed Amelie Mauresmo of France is on court later on Thursday in a second round match against Russian Elena Vesnina.

In the men's draw, Mauresmo's compatriot Fabrice Santoro, seeded seventh, had little trouble in beating Russian Konstantin Kravchuk 6-1 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals.

Local favourite Marat Safin plays Italian Daniele Bracciali on Centre Court in a second round match later today.

REUTERS PDS ND1900