WTA

• Schiavone ousted in Istanbul

  Istanbul,Turkey (SportsNetwork) -French Openchampion Francesca Schiavone was a second-round loser Thursday at the $220,000 Istanbul Cup hardcourt tennis event.

  Britain's Elena Baltacha sent the top-seeded Schiavone packing 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour, 25 minutes on Day 4 here. The 26-year-old Baltacha piled up five service breaks in the upset.

  Schiavone became the first-ever Italian woman to capture a Grand Slam title in June when she ran the table in stunning fashion at Roland Garros.

  Meanwhile, third-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova waltzed into the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 drubbing of Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova.

  Pavlyuchenkova's quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be Romanian Sorana Cirstea, who cooled off Swede Johanna Larsson, 6-4, 6-4. The 21-year-old Larsson reached her first career WTA Tour final last week in Slovenia.

  One other second-rounder saw Aussie Jarmila Groth ground Russian Anna Lapushchenkova 6-2, 6-3.

  The other quarterfinals will pit sixth-seeded German Andrea Petkovic against Baltacha, Russian Elena Vesnina versus Aussie Anastasia Rodionova and Groth against Russian and reigning Istanbul champion Vera Dushevina, who doused Czech Lucie Hradecka in last year's finale here.

  07/29 15:26:51 ET