British Tennis - Lawn Tennis Association

British No.1 Elena Baltacha continued her impressive start to the grass court season as she progressed to the quarter-finals at AEGON Nottingham Challenge.

Baltacha’s transfer onto the grass after reaching the second round of the French Open last month has so far been without blemish as she secured another straight set victory, this time over Anne Kremer.

Baltacha never looked in danger against the former world number 18 but admitted that she had to be at her most attacking to earn her 6-3, 6-4 victory.

“I knew that I had to try and dominate her from the first ball and I managed to do that, so I’m really delighted with the result,” she said. “Kremer was once ranked in the top 20 and it’s always a challenge playing against someone of that ability, but I served well on the important points, kept my cool and played the way that I know I can.”

Next up for the world number 83 is the challenge of second seed Lucie Hradecka in the most eye-catching quarter-final of the women’s draw.

Watch a video of Bally's Q & A with kids at the AEGON Masterclass in Nottingham.

The other last eight matches will see top seed Monica Niculescu take on sixth seed Petra Cetkovska while the seeded pair of Mathilde Johansson and Tamarine Tanasugarn will also battle it out in a bid to make the semi-finals.

The last quarter-final will be played between fourth seed Evgeniya Rodina and Canadian Stephanie Dubois who beat the seeded British player Anne Keothavong 6-3, 6-4.

However, there was better news for Keothavong later in the day as she and 17-year-old teammate Laura Robson defeated second seeds Maria Kondratieva and Sophie Lefevre in three sets after the match had been delayed for three days due to the bad weather.

In the men’s draw, highly rated teenager Bernard Tomic continued his excellent form in Nottingham with a three set victory over fourth seed Tatsuma Ito.

The Australian, who reached the semi-finals of the AEGON Trophy last week, ended a 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 winner to set up a last eight tie against Edouard Roger-Vasselin, but admitted that he was still not completely satisfied with his performance.

“I think I should have won the match in straight sets when I was serving for the match in the second, but Ito played a great game to break back and then won the tie break,” he said.

“In the final set the wind picked up and made the conditions a lot more difficult, so I need to make sure in the next rounds that if I’m ahead I close out my matches.”

Elsewhere, big serving South African Izak Van der Merwe defeated Frenchman Marc Gicquel 7-6, 6-1 to set up a quarter final match against Slovakia’s Grega Zemlja who overcame Alejandro Falla just 24 hours after the Colombian was awarded a wild card at the Wimbledon Championships later this month.

The other quarter-finals will see top seed Jeremy Chardy play Karol Beck and Dudi Sela face the challenge of Rik De Voest who beat qualifier Frederik Nielsen 6-2, 6-4.

In the men’s doubles draw, Richard Bloomfield and Timothy Bradshaw came with a single point of causing one of the upsets of the tournament against top seeds James Cerretani and Phillip Marx.

After losing the first set 6-4, the British pair staged a remarkable comeback to claim the second set 6-3 and then lead 9-5 in the first to 10 match deciding tiebreak before the tournament favourites won six points in a row to claim the tie.

Marx and Cerretani will play De Voest and Adil Shamasdin in the first semi-final while in the second, Treat Conrad Huey and Van der Merwe will play Cartsen Ball and Jesse Huta Galung.