Daniela Hantuchova has made more headlines for her shrinking shape than her tennis lately, but the slinky Slovak showed she is still a heavyweight hitter at Eastbourne yesterday.

The fourth seed fought her way through to the quarter-finals of the Hastings Direct Championships with a 7-6, 6-4 victory against former Wimbledon semi-finalist Alexandra Stevenson.

After all the fuss about her weight loss and early exit from the French Open, Hantuchova did well to stave off a determined challenge from a formidable second round opponent.

Stevenson is over 6ft tall and much thicker in build, but the lean and lanky world No. 9 said: "I think I just proved that tennis is not all about power.

"I was playing somebody maybe two sizes bigger and very powerful and serving big.

"Everybody has got a different body shape and different ways to be fit and strong.

"I don't step on the scales every day to make sure if I have put weight on or not. It's all about feeling strong and I feel very fit at the moment.

"Maybe if you checked the heartrate of other players compared to mine you would see I am very fit.

"It's a nice situation to be in. I can eat whatever I want whenever I want.

"A lot of people would like to be able to do that. It's better than being on the other side and having to lose weight."

Hantuchova seems comfortable in the role of heiress to the photo-shoot throne of the hapless Anna Kournikova, although she is determined to "let my racquets talk".

She said: "I think I'm handling this stuff quite well. Of course, there is a lot of attention and a lot of requests, so I have to do some things, but my focus is on my tennis."

Hantuchova's coach, Nigel Sears from Lewes, must have been pleased with the way his charge concentrated yesterday in testing circumstances.

A blustery wind made life difficult on a centre court bathed in sunshine.

It troubled Hantuchova sufficiently for one serve to bounce before reaching the net, the kind of incompetence you might expect of a club novice.

She gradually found her considerable stride with some impressive hitting from the baseline, although it took one hour and 45 minutes and endless breaks of serve to finally snap the resolve of Stevenson, the world No. 26 from America.

"I was so looking forward to playing my first match on grass and I was really pleased with the way I played," Hantuchova said.

"The conditions were tough, especially the wind, and I was playing a tough opponent. It was just a matter of being really patient and trying to keep the ball in play as much as possible.

"The wind was changing a lot, but when I needed to I served quite well and I was pleased with the way I fought. I stepped up my game when I needed to."

Hantuchova, an Eastbourne semi-finalist and Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year, was pleased to have the crowd on her side as well. "It's always a little bit special for me here, because it's Nigel's home place."