Defending champion Kimiko Date Krumm reached the Korea Open quarterfinals by ousting second-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday.
Date Krumm, two decades older than the 19-year-old Russian, appeared to be the younger player as she saved all six break points she faced and jumped all over the serve of Pavlyuchenkova, a two-time tour winner this year and ranked a career-best 20th.
The result lifted the Japanese veteran into her first quarterfinals since January, and only her third since her remarkable victory here a year ago, where she became the second oldest winner on tour after Billie Jean King in 1983.
Next up for Date Krumm, who turns 40 on Tuesday, will be eighth-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary, another two-time winner on tour this year.
Top-seeded Nadia Petrova beat Vania King of the United States 6-3, 6-4, and remained on course for an all-Russian semifinal with former No. 1 Dinara Safina.
Safina, a wild-card entry, topped fellow Russian and third-seeded Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-3 for the first time in three matchups this year.
Safina struggled through the first half of the year because of a back injury. She's lined up in the last eight against Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, who beat Safina in Madrid in May.
No. 5-seeded Alisa Kleybanova of Russia also advanced, but No. 4 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain and No. 6 Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan fell in straight sets.
