Nicole Pratt fought hard to keep alive her chances in the WTA Qatar Open on Thursday and avoid the fate of top seed Monica Seles who crashed out of the $US170,000 ($A289,164.82) tournament 24 hours earlier.

The veteran Australian, seeded eighth, dug in to see off Indonesian Angelique Widjaja 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a two hour battle of experience versus youth.

Widjaja, 19, could count on the confidence of her two recently-won titles while the 30-year-old Pratt, still looking for her first title, fell back on the rich experience garnered during her long playing career.

The Indonesian started a bit shakily and just managed to keep serve in the first game but dropped it in the third to trail 3-1. However, Widjaja produced two breaks in the sixth and tenth games to win the set.

Pratt hit back in the second set with three convincing breaks and in the final set, allowed her rival just one game, to romp into the quarter-finals.

The Australian's opponent in the last eight is Austrian Patricia Wartusch who came back from a set down to defeat dangerous wild card Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela 0-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Vento-Kabchi had earlier accounted for fourth seed and last year's runner-up Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand. Wartusch was routed in the first set as Vento-Kabchi, determined to continue her winning streak in the tournament, displayed superior court craft and broke her rival consecutively.

Shaken out of her stupor, Wartusch, holder of two singles titles, steadied her nerves in the second set and soon found the range on her shots. Vento-Kabchi dropped her serve in the second game, and again came close to being broken in the sixth, after being pushed by the Austrian who neutralised the advantage after keeping serve.

One break in the seventh game of the decider was enough to put Wartusch in the quarter-finals.

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