Marina Erakovic's quest for another WTA Tour doubles title has started well with progression to the quarter-finals of the US$220,000 Luxembourg Open today.
Erakovic teamed up with Romania's Monica Niculescu to beat Spanish pair Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3 6-3. Erakovic and Niculescu are unseeded and face fourth seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) and world No 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenko (Russia) in the next round.
Erakovic and partner Elena Vesnina beat Medina Garrigues and Pavlyuchenko at the same stage last week in the third set tiebreak en-route to winning the US$220,000 WTA event in Linz, Austria.
Erakovic had been due to attempt to qualify for the singles draw, having been seeded second for qualifying in Luxembourg, but was forced to pull out because of her appearance in the doubles final in Linz.
That victory has seen her doubles ranking move up to 50, just seven spots below her highest ranking in October 2008. She's also moved up in the singles rankings to 60.
