Chinese Qinwen Zheng, the top seed, secured her spot in the quarter-finals of the Palermo Open by defeating Croat Petra Martic 6-4, 6-4 at A.S.D. Country Time Club on Thursday night.

Ranked No. 7, Zheng will face off against the No. 7 seed, Romanian Jaqueline Cristian, in the next round.

The 21-year-old Chinese player defeated Italian Sara Errani (6-3, 6-2) in a match prior to her victory over Martic.

In the previous round of the Palermo tournament, Martic, ranked No. 99, triumphed over Colombian Emiliana Arango (6-2, 6-3).

Palermo WTA 250, other second-round results (A.S.D. Country Time Club, clay, USD 267.082, most recent results first):

• Jaqueline Cristian defeated Lucia Bronzetti: 6-3, 6-2
• Chloe Paquet defeated Maria Lourdes Carle: 6-3, 6-1
• Ann Li defeated Erika Andreeva: 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
• Astra Sharma defeated Ajla Tomljanovic (WC): 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
• Karolina Muchova (2) defeated Noma Noha Akugue (Q): 6-7, 6-2, 6-3
• Diane Parry (4) defeated Jil Teichmann (Q): 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-2
• Irina-Camelia Begu defeated Arantxa Rus (5): 6-2, 7-5