BIRMINGHAM, England -- Fifth-ranked Elina Svitolina believes she is making progress on grass after reaching the quarterfinals of the Birmingham Classic for the first time with a 6-4, 6-2 win over France's Alize Cornet on Wednesday.
Svitolina was within a couple of wins of becoming world No. 1 earlier this year without ever enjoying much success on grass.
"I was expecting a good match with her [Cornet] because she plays well against the top players," the 23-year-old Svitolina said. "She certainly produced some great rallies. But I was very happy with my performance and happy to be in the quarterfinals for the first time here."
A drive-volley and smash combination helped the second-seeded Ukrainian break serve for the first time in the fifth game, and she never looked like relinquishing the advantage throughout the rest of the set.
Svitolina next plays Mihaela Buzarnescu, a 30-year-old Romanian who is at a career-high No. 30 after being ranked 267th a year ago. Buzarnescu beat Petra Martic of Croatia 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the Wimbledon warmup tournament Wednesday.
Magdalena Rybarikova, who rose almost 90 places last year to reach a career-high No. 17 in March, once again showed her liking for this surface with a fine recovery against Kristina Mladenovic.
After losing the first set, the Slovak accelerated toward victory against the former top 10 player from France with an array of slice ground strokes, clever approaches and sharp volleys.
Rybarikova, who won the title here in 2009, reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year.
"I think I'd been a bit passive. The key was when I played more cross-court slices and drops and made an early break in the second set," Rybarikova said. "That's the way I am trying to play on grass. I am thankful that I have the game to do that."
She next faces Slovenian qualifier Dalila Jakupovic, who followed up Tuesday's win over Elise Mertens with a victory against 18th-ranked Naomi Osaka, who retired with an injury after losing the first set 6-3.