PALERMO, Italy - Sara Errani's results this year have been up and down. In fact, prior to Thursday, she had not gone beyond the second round of an event since April. However, the Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo continues to bring out the best in the fifth-seeded Italian, as proved by her 76(6) 61 victory over Patricia Mayr in round of 16 action two days after a straight set first round win.
In her two other main draw appearances here, the 22-year-old Errani reached the semis in 2007 and captured the trophy last year, following that with a win in her next event in Portoroz, her only two Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles to date. In the quarters, she will battle Yaroslava Shvedova, a 63 62 winner over Alberta Brianti.
The remaining second round matches were also completed Thursday, highlighted by Patty Schnyder routing Nuria Llagostera Vives, 62 62. The second-seeded Swiss is coming off a runner-up showing in Budapest last week. Next up for her is Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who ended the run of qualifier Arantxa Rus, 76(5) 63. Schnyder has a 2-0 record versus the German, including a win in Fed Cup play earlier this year. A win for Groenefeld would match her best result of the year, a semifinal showing in Estoril.
In addition to Errani against Shvedova and Schnyder versus Groenefeld, Friday's quarterfinal slate will feature No.1 seed Flavia Pennetta against No.7 seed Aravane Rezai and Tathiana Garbin versus Olga Govortsova.
