Top-seeded Danielle Collins reached the last 16 of the Palermo Ladies Open with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Germany’s Katharina Gerlach.
The American, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open two years ago, will next face Maddison Inglis of Australia.
No.7 seed Astra Sharma followed Inglis to reach the last 16, despite a mid-match blip to get past Italian Lucrezia Stefanini 6-4 1-6 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Zhang Shuai joined her in the next round with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Cristina Bucsa of Spain.
Local favourite Lucia Bronzetti upset No.5 seed Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-1.
Olga Danilovic, an unseeded player from Serbia, came back to beat eighth-seeded Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Queenslander Lizette Cabrera lost 6-2 6-3 to Katarina Zavatska of the Ukraine.
