Protestor hauled off as Peer plays on

AUCKLAND - Three of the top four seeds reached the quarter-finals of the ABS Classic Wednesday as a man was arrested in a protest over the presence of Israeli player Shahar Peer.

The unseeded Peer advanced effortlessly over Slovak Magdelena Rybarikova 6-1, 6-0 amid the disturbances on the grounds of the WTA event.

But the Israeli did complain that her match should have been postponed or moved to a different court.

“I have to say it was tough to play during the protest,” said the number 30. “I almost lost the first set because I was not concentrating. I was thinking about that and not my tennis.”

A pro-Palestinian group used a megaphone to disrupt the match, with the protestors saying they would remain for as long as Peer was in the tournament.

Italian top seed Flavia Pennetta continued her fast start to the season, rolling Spain’s Carla Surez Navarro 6-2, 6-2 while Belgian number three Yanina Wickmayer defeated Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-2, 6-2.

Fourth seed Francesca Schiavone booked another Italian place in the last eight as she beat Sania Mirza of India 6-0, 6-3.

Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm, 39, put out French fifth seed Virginie Razzano 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Peer, 22, said that as long as she kept winning, she did not care about the protestors and they were free to do what they liked.

“I don’t think there is a place for politics in sport,” she said, adding that she had not faced similar protests anywhere else in the world.