The Israeli veteran beat Spain's Laura Pous Tio in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFsmashnova 298.88(photo credit: Associated Press)
Anna Smashnova cruised into the quarterfinals of the Budapest Grand Prix on Wednesday with a straight sets win over Spain's Laura Pous Tio, setting up a potential rematch of last year's final.
The Israeli veteran, who is ranked 63rd in the world and seeded eighth at the tourney, will next face the winner of Thursday's match between top seed Catalina Castano (35) of Colombia and France's Aravane Rezai (91). Smashnova defeated Castano 6-2, 6-2 to win the title in Budapest last year.
Smashnova was in strong form in Wednesday's 6-0, 6-2 win over Pous Tio (107), On Tuesday night Israeli No. 1 Shahar Pe'er joined forces with German star Anna-Lena Groenefeld to beat China's Meng Yuan and Mariana Diaz-Oliva of Argentina 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round of the doubles at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California.
The third seeded pair was scheduled to face Canada's Maureen Drake and Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic late Wednesday in the quarters.
Pe'er and Groenefeld are the highest ranked team to start with a win, after top seeds Ai Sugiyama of Japan and Slovakian Daniela Nahtuchova and No. 2 seeds Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Czech Kveta Peschke were upset during the tourney's first two days.
Pe'er (26) was also set to take on Australian Samantha Stosur (43) earlier Wednesday in the second round of the singles event.
It would be their first meeting since Pe'er topped Stosur in straight sets in May in the Prague final.
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