American Lindsay Davenport defeated Dinara Safina of Russia 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the Kremlin Cup on Thursday to regain the No. 1 position in the WTA rankings.
Davenport was joined in the quarterfinals by fellow American Venus Williams, who outclassed Russian teenager Vera Douchevina 6-0, 6-4.
PHOTO: AFP
Also securing quarterfinal berths were French Open and defending champion Anastasia Myskina, who overcame a one-set deficit to defeat fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, and Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva, who beat Croatian qualifier Sanda Manic 6-3, 6-3.
PHOTO: AFP
"I'm amazed that I was able to get back to No. 1 after a tough couple of years," said Davenport, who was last at the top on Jan. 13, 2002.
Davenport will overtake Amelie Mauresmo next week to go top of the rankings for the fifth time. She trailed Mauresmo by just 15 points, 4,395 to 4,380 after winning the Porsche Grand Prix on Sunday.
In the finals at Filderstadt, Mauresmo retired after aggravating her strained left thigh. She was the top seed in Moscow, but withdrew because of the injury.
In the quarterfinals, Davenport will face Italy's Francesca Schiavone.
Wild card Douchevina was helpless in the first set, which looked like a master class.
The Russian proved to be a good student, breaking Willams at love and narrowing the gap to 5-4 in the second set before the American served for the match to win in 56 minutes.
"In the second I found my game and forced her [Williams] to make mistakes, but she is a player of a much higher level and all that was left for me was to learn from her," Douchevina said.
Williams said: "Myself and my sister, we still set the standard. I see players out there trying to do the things that Serena and I do. For them it's all about seeing if they can do the things that I do. And it makes me proud."
Willams faces Russia's Elena Bovina on Friday.
Dementieva had little trouble against Manic. She meets Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals -- their first meeting since Kuznetsova beat her in the US Open final.
Myskina, who said she was running a temperature and missed two days of practice, managed two breaks early in the first set, but failed to hold a serve of her own.
She charged back in the second set, winning five consecutive games and serving to level the match 1-1. She then closed out the match in 1 hour and 25 minutes.
In the quarterfinals, third-seeded Myskina will face Russia's Vera Zvonareva, seeded sixth.
Top-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina and Olympic champion Nicolas Massu of Chile advanced to the quarterfinals of the CA Trophy Thursday with straight-set victories while American Robby Ginepri upset No. 5 Paradorn Srichaphan to reach the final eight.
Nalbandian beat Austria's Stefan Koubek 6-2, 7-6 (6), while No. 2 seed Massu beat South African Rik de Voest 6-4, 6-2. Two other seeds, No. 6 Guillermo Canas of Argentina and No. 8 Feliciano Lopez also advanced while the unseeded Ginepri eliminated Paradorn of Thailand 6-2, 6-1.
Nalbandian dominated seemingly nervous Koubek and won the first set in just over a half hour. Koubek appeared to gain confidence in front of a supportive home crowd in the second set, playing more aggressively, taking a 6-5 lead and earning a set point as Nalbandian struggled with his serve.
However, the 22-year-old South American hammered four straight winners to send the match to a tiebreak, where he wrapped up the victory with a pair of aces.
"I had a great start into the game and everything went fine, but I knew that Stefan would come back at some stage and he did," Nalbandian said. "In the end the tibreak was a bit lucky, but they always are."
The 10th-ranked Argentine advanced to the quarterfinals to face compatriot Canas, who beat American Taylor Dent 6-4, 6-4.
Massu had five break points in the opening game, but de Voest fought him off until the ninth game, where the Chilean converted the second of two more.
He opened the second set with a break and earned another en route to the victory.
Spain's Alex Corretja overcame Gregory Carraz of France 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Thursday during the second round of the US$446,050 ATP tournament.
The victory sends Corretja to a quarterfinal meeting with American Jeff Morrison, who upset sixth-seeded Julien Benneteau 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Morrison's victory leaves only No. 1 Ivan Ljubicic as the only remaining seed in the event.
In other mataches, Gael Monfils defeated French countryman Olivier Patience 6-4, 6-4, and Paul-Henri Mathieu beat Florent Serra 7-6, 6-1 in another all-French match.
Meghann Shaughnessy advanced to the Tashkent Open semifinals Friday with a decisive 6-2, 6-3 win over Ukraine's Olga Savchuk.
Shaughnessy is the highest-seeded player still in the tournament after hometown favorite Iroda Tulyaganova upset top-seeded Marion Bartoli of France in the first round. Tulyaganova, however, was knocked out of play with a loss Thursday to Italy's Antonella Serra Zanetti.
In other quarterfinals later Friday, Spain's Marta Marrero played Virginie Razzano of France, Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic faced Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain and Serra Zanetti took on Anca Barna of Germany.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and