Top-seeded Serena Williams advanced to the Rogers Cup quarter-finals on Thursday, beating 13th-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-0, 6-3.
Serena, coming off a tournament victory 2 weeks ago in the Swedish Open, set up a match Friday against Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova.
“She wasn’t able to play her game as much as she wanted to,” Serena said. “When you play such a high-ranked player, you have to go in there with the mindset of do the best you can before they can step all over you.”
Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli retired because of an abdominal injury early in the second set of her match against Rybarikova. “Kind of excess of tiredness and exhaustion on my body,” Bartoli said. “The pain is so large and we can’t really say right now exactly (if) there is a tear at some point or if it’s just like a huge tightness.”
Rybarikova led 7-6 (5), 1-0 when the seventh-seeded Bartoli stopped playing.
Earlier, fourth-seeded Li Na of China fought back from a three-game deficit in the final set for a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory over Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic.
Third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland also advanced to the quarter-finals, beating American Sloane Stephens 6-1, 7-6 (2).