Kuznetsova cruises into semifinals

Dubai: The lower half of the draw will see a keen semifinal contest between the second and fourth seeds at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame a late rusty patch for a 6-1, 7-6 (4) win over Frenchwoman, doubles partner and friend Amelie Mauresmo, while fourth seed Jelena Jankovic eased into the next stage for a meeting against Kuznetsova when sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze limped out with a left thigh injury after losing the first set 6-1.

Kuznetsova was also bracing herself for a tough semifinal battle. "When you reach the later stages of the tournament, you cannot afford to make too many mistakes. You go a bit low on your level and you lose or you raise your level and you win the match," Kuznetsova stated.

Yesterday's win for Kuznetsova set the record straight between Mauresmo and the Russian at 4-4.

In the first set, Kuznetsova broke in the second after holding serve to go 2-0 clear. She maintained the pressure against a rusty opponent to eventually take the set 6-1 in just 23 minutes.

Mauresmo had a modest start in the second as she managed to hold serve and then exchanged breaks with her Russian opponent to be 2-2. Mauresmo, a former world No 1, was far from finished as she powered her way to a 5-3 lead.

Kuznetsova, who is one of the three Russians in the top 10, bid her time and broke back in the ninth and then held serve to draw level 5-5. The tie-break proved crucial for the Russian as she hung in there and won it on 4.

"I played much better between 3-2 and 5-3, but the tie-break was not up to the mark," Mauresmo lamented.

In the second quarterfinal, Jankovic was in total command as she barely allowed Chakvetadze any liberty pinning her to the baseline.

"Until she called the trainer on court I was not even aware that she had a problem," the smiled Serbian semifinalist.

Update
Taipei duo in last four

The fourth seeded pairing of Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang from Chinese Taipei will run into top seeds and defending champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the doubles semifinals at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships today.

Results:
Singles:
Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 7-6 (4)
Jelena Jankovic bt Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, retd.

Doubles: Yung-Jan Chan/Chia-Jung Chuang bt Vladimira Uhlirova/Galina Voskoboeva 6-3, 6-4; Zi Yan/Jie Zheng bt Kveta Peschke/Rennae Stubbs 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (7) super tie-break; Katarina Srebotnik/Ai Sugiyama bt Nadia Petrova/Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3.

Order of Play (semifinals):
Centre Court: Start at 2 pm: Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Jelena Jankovic; Cara Black/Liezel Huber vs Yung-Jan Chan.

Start at 7 pm: Justine Henin OR Francesca Schiavone vs Ana Ivanovic OR Elena Dementieva; Zi Yan/Jie Zheng vs Katarina Srebotnik/Ai Sugiyama.