Martina Muller of Germany upset top-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday in the second round of the Strasbourg International in France.

Third-seeded Nathalie Dechy of France and fifth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France were also upset. China's Li Na downed Dechy 6-3, 7-6 (4), and Elena Vesnina of Russia beat Bartoli 6-1, 6-1.

Second-seeded Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, defending champion Anabel Medina Garrigues, seventh-seeded Zheng Jie and eighth-seeded Jelena Jankovic all advanced.

Vaidisova beat Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2, while fourth-seeded Medina Garrigues downed Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-1, 6-0. Zheng topped Marta Domachowska of Poland 6-4, 6-4 and Jankovic defeated Anna Smashnova 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 of Israel.

Peng Shuai also advanced, beating Julia Schruff of Germany 7-5, 6-3.

Muller and Peng will meet in the quarterfinals, while Zheng plays Vaidisova, Medina Garrigues faces Vesnina and Jankovic takes on Li.

In Poertschach, Austria, seventh-seeded Luis Horna of Peru advanced to the semifinals of the Hypo Group tournament yesterday, defeating Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 6-4.

It was the second match of the day for both players. Earlier, Horna downed Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-1, 6-1; while Monaco beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-0.

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-2, 6-4 to move into the quarterfinals against Potito Starace, who beat sixth-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Juergen Melzer advanced after Richard Gasquet of France retired with an injury while trailing 6-0, 1-1. Melzer will play Czech Jiri Novak next.

(Shanghai Daily May 26, 2006)