Zvonareva Upholds Top Seeding at Memphis

Top-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva held back the waterworks and opponent Severine Beltrame of France Wednesday at the WTA stop in Memphis, almost blowing a first-set lead with an eventual 7-6(0), 6-3 win.

"I was trying to rush too much in the first set," Zvonareva said. "After being up 4-1, I found myself in a tiebreak. I let her back into the match, but was able to recover my form in the second set."

Three other seeds eased into the quarterfinals Wednesday in (3) Meghann Shaughnessy (d. Sromova), teenager (7) Nicole Vaidisova (d. Brandi), and (8) Evgenia Linetskaya (d. (Q) Yoshida), all in straight sets.

In other matches on Wednesday, un-seeds Yoon Jeong Cho of Korea (d. Spears), Japan's Akiko Morigami (d. (WC) Krajicek in three), and Ukrainian wildcard Katherina Bondarenko (d. (Q) Haynes) gained the quarterfinals.

On Thursday's schedule in the city of barbecue is Vaidisova vs. Jackson, Zvonareva vs. Bondarenko, Cho vs. Shaughnessy, and Morigami vs. Linetskaya.