Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams stayed on course for a repeat of their Australian Open final by cruising through the Dubai Women's Open quarterfinals on Thursday.
However, French Open champion Anastasia Myskina squandered a match point and was ousted by eighth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-7 (0), 7-6 (2), 6-2.
World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport beat wild card Conchita Martinez of Spain 6-1, 6-4 in 77 minutes, while Australian Open champion Williams handled Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-3 in 68 minutes.
PHOTO: EPA
Davenport will meet Schnyder in Friday's semifinals, and Williams faces Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro, who routed wild card Sania Mirza of India 6-2, 6-2 in 48 minutes to reach her first tour semifinals since October.
Third-seeded Myskina, off to a lackluster start to the season after leading Russia to the Fed Cup championship in November, lost in the last eight in Dubai for the fourth straight year.
She swept the first-set tiebreaker against Schnyder, and rallied from 4-0 down to reach match point at 6-5 on the Swiss player's serve.
Schnyder saved it with a forehand winner and hit an overhead smash to keep her serve, and set up another tiebreak, which she won 7-2. In the third set, Schnyder broke Myskina in the sixth game, and the eighth to love to close the two-hour contest.
"It was a really tough match and I was lucky to save the match point," said Schnyder. "And I am looking forward to winning two more matches here."
Schnyder was in sight of her second title this season, but meets Davenport having won only two of eight previous matchups.
"She is a great competitor, one of the few pure lefties on the tour," Davenport said. "And she uses her advantage well, swinging the ball in. She plays the ball well on both sides and it should be an interesting match.
"I just have to serve well, be aggressive, hit the ball hard and not allow her to get into any rhythm," the American added.
Davenport edged ahead of Martinez 9-8 in their matchups since 1994.
Davenport breezed through the first set, breaking Martinez three times. But Martinez rebounded in the second set, going up 3-1. The American broke in the eighth game to level at 4-4, and broke again to win the match between the former Wimbledon winners.
"I made a few errors and allowed her to come back into the match, giving her confidence," Davenport said. "She broke me a few times but I still managed to come back, and I feel good about that."
Williams remained unbeaten in 2005 through 10 matches, racing to a 5-1 lead against Hantuchova.
But she dropped her serve in the eighth game, serving a double fault and netting a volley on the run at 30-40.
Hantuchova climb back to 4-5 but Williams served two of her six aces to finish the set.
In the second set, Williams showed some deft touches at the net to break in the third game, but double-faulted at 30-40 to lose the fourth.
However, an erratic Hantuchova lost her serve in the next game, and at 3-5 down netted a backhand to give Williams match point, which the American claimed with an overhead winner.
Lleyton Hewitt and Wayne Arthurs each won in straight sets Friday to give Australia a 2-0 lead over Austria in its Davis Cup World Group match at the Sydney International Tennis Center.
Hewitt, playing for the first time since losing the Australian Open final to Marat Safin on Jan. 30, beat Austria's Alexander Peya 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
Arthurs, who won his first career singles title at Scottsdale, Arizona, last weekend, beat Austrian No. 1 Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4 on a grass court at the 2000 Olympic site.
Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge can clinch the first-rounder for Australia on Saturday when they play Julian Knowle and Peya in the doubles. The reverse singles are scheduled for Sunday.
The winner here faces the winner of the Czech Republic-Argentina tie at the quarterfinals in July.
With Hewitt and Peya on serve in the final set and the Austrian serving, a Peya backhand went long and wide on break point, giving Hewitt a 3-2 lead.
Hewitt won the match when Peya's return of service went wide, prompting a standing ovation for Hewitt from the cheering Australian crowd.
It was Hewitt's 26th win in 31 singles matches. He is Australia's most successful Davis Cup player.
Hewitt won the Medibank International tournament in Sydney before the Australian Open and has lost only once at the Sydney International center -- in the first round of the 2000 Olympics.
"I enjoy playing here but I think once you start playing well at a stadium or an arena, you like going back there," said the 24-year-old Hewitt. "It makes it a lot easier to play well there if you have good memories."
Hewitt said he played well despite his five-week match layoff.
"It was never easy coming out and playing a Davis Cup match first-up. I knew I wanted to get an early win and take some of the pressure off Wayne in the second match."
Arthurs won the first set when Melzer, at one point up 5-3 in the tiebreaker, hit a topspin backhand long. That gave set point to Arthurs, who converted it immediately when Melzer couldn't return a hard serve.
The lanky Australian, who beat Melzer in straight tiebreaker sets last month in Memphis, Tennessee, served for the match at 5-4 in the third.
Arthurs fell behind 0-40 before fighting back and winning on his second match point when Melzer couldn't return Arthurs' slice backhand deep to the back of the court.
Japan versus Taiwan
Japan and Taiwan were tied 1-1 in Taipei after the opening singles matches in Group II.
Lu Yen-hsun, Taiwan's No. 1 ranked player, defeated Japan's Gouichi Motomura 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4.
After losing the fourth set, Lu rallied to put Taiwan ahead 1-0 after a close match that lasted three hours and 10 minutes.
In the second match, Japan's Takao Suzuki cruised past Wang Yu-cho 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
In today's doubles match, Lu and Wang Yeu-tzuoo take on Suzuki and Thomas Shimada.
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