Third-seeded Elena Dementieva overcame cramps, errors and a tough opponent Wednesday to beat Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 and reach the quarter-finals of the Porsche Grand Prix.
Dementieva , a semifinalist at the tournament last year, had a bye into the second round. The Russian raised her record to 6-0 against Srebotnik.
In the first round, Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria beat Karolina Sprem of Croatia 6-1, 6-4 in a match between two qualifiers, and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia defeated qualifier Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Also, eighth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Mary Pierce of France 7-6 (7), 6-3 in a first-round match.
Serving for the match at 5-4 and 15-15 in the third set, Dementieva slumped to the floor clutching her left thigh. After receiving about five minutes of treatment, Dementieva had one of her 11 double-faults and dropped serve. But she broke right back and then closed the match with a forehand winner on her second match point.
After losing the first set, Dementieva trailed 4-1 in the second and was a break down before rallying to win six of the next seven games and even the match. The two traded breaks at the start of the third, then Srebotnik dropped serve again to put Dementieva ahead 5-4.
``It was very tough to move for a time,'' Dementieva said. ``I really wanted to win and I did all I could. We both played very well.''
