Chakvetadze through on safe day for seeds

By Patrick Vignal

PARIS (Reuters) - Russian Anna Chakvetadze led the top three seeds into the quarter-finals of the Paris Open on Thursday.

Chakvetadze, who had a bye in the first round of the indoor event, dismissed local favourite Nathalie Dechy 6-1 6-3.

The top seed was in a class of her own in the first set and opened up a 3-0 lead in the second.

Dechy, back from Beijing where France were beaten by China in the Fed Cup at the weekend, fought back to level at 3-3 but Chakvetadze was soon back in control.

She broke her opponent again before wrapping up victory when Dechy hit a backhand wide.

"It was my first indoor match this season and it went okay," said Chakvetadze, who burst into the limelight last year by winning four titles and reaching the U.S. Open semi-finals.

"I didn't think it would be that easy. My concentration dropped a bit in the second set but I was able to recover."

The 20-year-old Chakvetadze will meet former world number one Amelie Mauresmo of France or Eleni Daniilidou of Greece for a place in the semi-finals.