Fresh from her Swedish Open triumph in Bastad, Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai entered the quarterfinals of the XXIII Internazionali Femminili Di Tennis with a hard fought 7-6(3), 6-3 win over Colombian Mariana Duque Marino.

Rezai, who claimed her biggest career title in Madrid earlier this year, has an impressive track record on clay and another triumph will most definitely put her on the top of the heap with three titles.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon quarterfinalist Kaia Kanepi regained top form with a confident 6-1, 6-2 drubbing of Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru.

"It was tough to go from grass back to clay, and I really felt it in Bastad last week," assessed Kanepi. "But I've had some good practice sessions since then and I'm starting to feel good again on clay. My matches have been tough so far and my opponents have been playing well. My game has been a little up and down."

Home favourite and third seed, Italian Sara Errani took out Croatian qualifier and veteran Mirjana Lucic 6-0, 7-6(4) in just 77 minutes of play. As a teen prodigy, Lucic created waves in 1999 when she reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and lost to eventual finalist and German legend Steffi Graf.

Lucic could not follow up on the tremendous success and at one time in her career, blamed her father of ill-treatment after every match loss.

In the day's only other singles match, Italian wild card Romina Oprandi beat Slovenian Masa Zec Peskiric 6-4, 7-5 to secure her semifinal berth.