Vigorous protesting by Russian Julia Lutrova, the dismissal of top seeded South African Surina De Beer, and the end of the road for Ireland's Yvonne Doyle and Kelly Liggan increased the drama in the quarter-finals of the Irish Women's Open tennis championships at Riverview in Dublin yesterday.

Lutrova, (24), was docked a point for spitting at the ground under the umpires chair on her way to victory over Kelly Liggan. Referee Steve Mehigan was called out on court and endorsed the umpire's decision. Earlier, Liggan claimed that Lutrova struck her on the back with a ball on purpose after which Lutrova was warned. Lutrova, whose superior tennis was not to be denied, felt she was the victim of home town decisions.

Yvonne Doyle's enriched display may have fallen short of what was needed against Paris teenager Marina Caiazzo from midway through the second set, but at least the Irish girl could walk tall after receiving the best compliment of the week Caiazzo, unseeded, was heard by a linesperson to say in the first set: "Jeepers, am I playing Graf or what?" "I couldn't believe that I was not able to score a forehand winner against her. A player in the 600s is usually easy to score against but she (Doyle) was different," Caiazzo said.

But the precocious 19-year-old, who will not be happy unless she makes the world's top 50 by the time she is 23, began to show her true form in the second set. "She raised her levels from then on," said Doyle. Caiazzo then unleashed a series of whopping backhand winners, aces and service winners. "I was glad of a break in the second set to discuss what was going wrong for me with my coach,' Ciazzo said. "We sorted it out but afterwards he told me she (Doyle) gave me only about four presents in the whole match."

The top seeded De Beer struggled against the sprightly 21-year-old Australian Trudi Musgrave, seeded sixth, and succumbed tamely 6-4 6-3 . "I thought I was tougher. Travelling around the world alone makes you like that," said Musgrave.

Britain's Lucie Ahl, seeded three, is in a strong position to retain her title: "I played my best tennis of the week," she said after dismissing Hungary's Adrien Hegedus 6-2 6-4.

Spain's Carlos Moya and Chilean Marcelo Rios strolled through to the quarter-finals of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart yesterday with comfortable victories.

Second seed Moya downed French Open semi-finalist Fernando Meligeni 6-4 6-3 while Rios, seeded third, moved past German Jens Knippschild 6-4 6-4.