Seeded Italians Vinci, Knapp advance at Nuremberg Cup

NUREMBERG, Germany (AP) Seeded Italians Roberta Vinci and Karin Knapp advanced to the Nuremberg Cup quarterfinals with comfortable second-round victories on Tuesday.

Vinci, the No. 4 seed, defeated Czech player Tereza Smitkova 6-2, 6-1, and Knapp, the No. 6, prevailed over German wild card Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-1, 6-3.

Vinci next faces Switzerland's Stephanie Voegele or the seventh-seeded Kurumi Nara of Japan, while Knapp awaits either Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands or Julia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

Also, Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi rallied to beat Zhang Shuai of China 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 for a quarterfinal against the second-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany or Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic, playing later.