Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo was eliminated by feisty Italian Francesca Schiavone on Friday while second-seeded Venus Williams advanced to the J&S Cup semifinals.
Mauresmo slumped 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1, despite dominating the early stages of the quarterfinal. She led 5-1, earned by volleying winners from the short balls offered by Schiavone, and hitting deep to keep the ninth-seeded Italian on the defensive.
PHOTO: EPA
But Schiavone settled after the first set, and as Mauresmo failed to maintain her early momentum, Schiavone began to gain a foothold. Although Mauresmo twice broke serve to take the lead in the second set, Schiavone pulled back the break each time, and then dominated the tiebreaker.
The world No. 3 then faded badly in the decider. Mauresmo was broken in the opening game, and although she held off five break points at 2-0, a netted backhand at 3-1 virtually ended the contest. Schiavone swept the final two games to love.
"The first set I was very nervous because to play with a top player is not easy," Schiavone said. "There's a lot of emotion and the way of thinking is different. But now I'm learning that every person is just a player and not magic.
"For me, every point was a match point, because against a top player if you lose concentration for two minutes they play great. So it was very important for me to pay attention on every point."
Top-seeded Mauresmo revealed that a lack of concentration and recent match play took a toll.
"At the beginning I was really dictating and feeling that I was moving well, but then I started to go back a little bit," said Mauresmo, who has played only one tournament since defaulting her quarterfinal at the Australian Open with a back injury. In her only event since, she reached the final at Amelia Island before falling to Lindsay Davenport.
"At the end of the second set and in the third set she was the one that was dictating and making me move. After being off for a long time I had some trouble keeping focused all the match. That's what I need to work on and probably playing matches is the solution to that."
Williams crushed Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-1, 6-0.
Maleeva had won three of their previous five meetings, including the last clash in Moscow in 2002. But although many of the games on Friday were closely fought, Williams was never in danger.
Williams safely fought off four break points when leading 4-1 in the first set, and four more after breaking to lead 2-0 in the second, as Maleeva was overpowered by a stronger opponent.
"That was a good match for me," Williams said. "We had some tough games throughout the whole match. We'd have five or six deuces. Of course, I was happy with the result because I got each important game."
Williams will play third-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva in Saturday's semifinals. Zvonareva pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the 2003 French Open when she ousted Williams in the fourth round, but Williams avenged that loss at 2003 Wimbledon. and again when they met recently in the Charleston quarterfinals.
Zvonareva resisted a second-set fightback by eighth-seeded Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi to win 6-3, 7-5. The Israeli led the second set 5-2 and held four set points at 5-4, before Zvonareva rallied.
Schiavone will face Svetlana Kuznetsova in the other semifinal, after the No. 3-seeded Russian downed sixth-seeded Italian Silvia Farina Elia 6-1, 6-4.
BMW Open
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia eliminated top-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-1, 7-6 (4) in the BMW Open on Friday to reach his first semifinals in almost a year.
Davydenko will line up against Luis Horna of Peru, who reached his third semifinal of 2004 by edging Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (6), 7-6 (2).
Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands, at No. 4 the only seeded player left in the clay-court tournament, beat Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland 6-3, 7-6 (0) to set up a semifinal against Olivier Rochus. The Belgian downed German qualifier Alexander Waske 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Davydenko hadn't made the last four since he got to the St. Poelton, Austria final last May.
He improved to 3-1 against Schuettler, whom he dominated in the first set with a patient, error-free game.
"It was perfect, I made no mistakes in the first set," said Davydenko, a Russian who has lived in Germany for seven years. "I tried to hit to both sides."
Davydenko blew a 4-2 lead in the second set.
"I should have gone up 5-2, I lost some concentration," he said.
Schuettler, who reached the Monte Carlo Masters final last week, played a soft drop shot on the point. Davydenko swooped to reach it, but left Schuettler an open court to put away a winner. Davydenko then served out the match in the tiebreaker to gain a measure of revenge for last year's second-round loss to Schuettler in the same tournament.
"From the first match here this year I've been thinking that I can win this tournament," Davydenko said.
The defeat left Schuettler still seeking his first title on home soil.
"In the first set he put on the fireworks, while I needed some time to get into the match," Schuettler said.
Verkerk, last year's French Open runner-up, used his big serve to move past Kratochvil and reach his second semifinal of the year. Kratochvil had not won a match this year until this event.
Open Seat Godo
Belgian qualifier Kristof Vliegen upset third-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina 7-6 (1), 6-4 on Friday to advance to the Open Seat Godo semifinals.
Vliegen, world ranked 136th, is the first qualifier to reach the semifinals since 1997. He'll meet Tommy Robredo of Spain, who defeated fifth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (2).
Also, 13th-seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina beat No. 6 Gustavo Kuerten when the Brazilian, who'd played two three-setters to reach the quarterfinals, retired with a groin injury while trailing 3-6, 7-6 (5), 2-1.
Nalbandian rallied from two breaks down to forced the first-set tiebreaker against Vliegen, who won it comfortably. In the second set, Vliegen broke in the fifth game, missed serving for the match at 5-3, but broke serve again to reach his first semifinals in 15 months.
"Today I was under no pressure and had nothing to lose, until I realized at 5-3 that I could win the match," Vliegen said.
Robredo, who turns 22 today, wasn't fazed when he dropped the first set to Gonzalez.
"Things did look bad, but it was an odd match," Robredo said, noting that he won the first three games only to see Gonzalez recover and take the first set.
Gaudio's semifinal opponent will be Albert Montanes of Spain, who saved two match points in beating seventh-seeded Agustin Calleri of Argentina 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Calleri had two match points when he served at 5-4 in the second set, but squandered both to the Spanish wild card.
"I wasn't the favorite today but I played very well," Montanes said. "Getting to the final in Valencia did a lot for my confidence, especially to know I am able to string matches together like that."
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