Wimbledon revelation Marion Bartoli was ousted by Lillia Osterloh in the 2nd round at the Bank of the West Classic in 3 sets 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.Bartoli is the 1st seeded player to lose in the Tier II tournament. The Bank of the West Classic holds $600.000 in prizemoney.
This was Bartoli’s first match since her loss to Venus Williams in the final of Wimbledon in July and it also marked her first tournament on hardcourt. Bartoli played with an injury and in the final set it started to wear her down as Osterloh broke her serve several times.
“I’m not moving as I should and not pushing on my serve,” Frenchwoman Bartoli said. “She played a good match, she was just too good at the end. It’s going to take some time for me to recover. My best was not enough.”
Osterloh lost in the first and only match both players played each other in 2006 in Quebec, Montreal.
“I was thinking about her injury, I was playing one point at the time. And believing in myself,” Osterloh said. “It really helps my confidence. The crowd was great and they inspired me.”
Osterloh now faces Sybille Bammer of Austria who recorded a 2 set match victory over Meilen Tu of the USA.
Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik defeated Russian Maria Kirilenko in 2 sets 6-0, 7-6 to secure a place in the quarters.
“If I reach a goal I try to think higher. I want to be in the range between 20-30 (in the rankings),” Srebotnik said. “Last year I reached the goal, now I try to stay there. The competition is tough right now.”
Slovak Daniela Hantuchova also advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Shuai Peng of China in a 2 set match 6-4, 6-2. Hantuchova has never reached beyond the quarters of this event, might she win her next match then she will do so for the first time in her career.
On Thursday the other potential quarterfinalists will play their matches. Among those are Anna Chakvetadze, who won the Cincinatti Women’s Open last week. She will face Greek Eleni Danilidou. The winner will face either Patty Schnyder or Yaroslava Shvedova of Russia.
Schnyder was a finalist last year but was defeated by Belgian Kim Clijsters who retired earlier this year.
French Tatiana Golovin meets India Sania Mirza while Shahar Peer will play Olga Govortsova.
The winner takes home $88,265.
