Russian tennis stars Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova all reached the quarterfinals of the tournament Wednesday, but the men did not fare so well, with second seed Igor Andreev crashing out in straight sets.
Andreev followed fellow Russian Mikhail Youzhny, the third seed, out of the tournament when he lost to France's Jeremy Chardy late on Wednesday 6-3 5-7 4-6.
In a strong field of Russian women, Vera Zvonareva will attempt later on Thursday to join her compatriots in the quarterfinals.
On the men's side, top seed and defending champion Nikolai Davydenko and former U.S. and Australian open winner Marat Safin are both in action on Thursday.
On Wednesday, world No. 3 Safina beat France's Amelie Mauresmo to set up a clash with Kuznetsova after the world No. 7 eased past Italian Sara Errani 7-6, 6-1, and Petrova's quarterfinal opponent Dementieva came back from a second-set stumble to beat Slovenian qualifier Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 4-6 7-6.
