Lori McNeil moved closer to completing a hat-trick of successes at the DFS Women's Classic

Lori McNeil, the American who defeated Steffi Graf at Wimbledon last year, moved closer to completing a hat-trick of successes at the DFS Women's Classic tournament in Birmingham yesterday by progressing into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Australian Kristin Godridge.

McNeil's hopes of collecting a third consecutive title at Birmingham improved when the No 2 seed, Gigi Fernandez, limped out of the reckoning with a damaged ankle and a 6-1, 6-2 defeat by last week's Beckenham winner, Els Callens of Belgium. But McNeil's fellow American, Zina Garrison Jackson, the runner- up to McNeil last year, cruised past the Italian Laura Golarsa in two sets.