Linz, Austria, 13 October 2011 | AP

Anastasia Rodionova’s good fortune continued after beating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova on Wednesday in the opening round of the Generali Ladies WTA tournament.

Rodionova defeated the Czech 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 and was scheduled to next play ninth-ranked Italian Flavia Pennetta – a 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 winner over Elena Vesnina.

Pennetta, however, later withdrew from her second-round match against Rodionova with a left thigh injury, meaning the Australian advances to the quarter-finals to face Slovakian seventh seed Dominika Cibulkova or Italy’s Sara Errani.

Qualifiers Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Evgeniya Rodina of Russia also reached the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Cirstea rallied to upset fourth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 4-6 6-0 6-4, while Rodina ousted No.6 Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3 6-4.

Rodina, ranked 104th, lost in qualification but still entered the main draw after Germany’s Andrea Petkovic pulled out with a knee injury.

Rodina held serve throughout and dominated play against the 21st-ranked Goerges with strong groundstrokes.

The 15th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova had 11 double faults and lost eight straight games against Cirstea after winning the opening set. After trailing 2-0 in the decider, she broke back but dropped serve two more times.

In her second quarter-final of the season, Cirstea will play either Lucie Safarova or Alberta Brianti, who beat fifth-seeded Sabine Lisicki 7-5 4-6 6-3 in first-round play.

Wimbledon semi-finalist Lisicki blew a 5-2 lead on her way to dropping the first set. The German player rallied to even the match by taking the second set but then failed to take advantage of an early break in the third as she lost to the 74th-ranked Italian.

Patricia Mayr-Achleitner recovered from losing the opening set to beat Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France 3-6 6-2 6-2. The Austrian player next takes on top-seeded Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova for a place in the quarter-finals.

Former champion Daniela Hantuchova missed a match point in the second set tiebreaker but still held off Petra Martic of Croatia 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-1. Martic had her right thigh muscle taped after winning the second set and seemed to be hampered by the injury in the decider.