AN ATP MASTERS SERIES EVENT
13th - 21st OCTOBER
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour : 2006
Mauresmo, Hingis Cruise Into Qatar Quarterfinals
Top two seeds Amélie Mauresmo and Nadia Petrova cruised through their respective opening round matches on Wednesday at the $600,000 Qatar Total Open. Martina Hingis might have something to say about their final collision course
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Hingis, who was the Doha champion five years ago, improved her unbeaten record at the Tier II event to 6-0 with a 61 62 second-round thrashing of No.3 seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy. The 25-year-old Swiss ran Schiavone all over the court during the 55-minute rout, in the end winning nearly twice as many points (57-30) and more impressively dropping just one point on her second serve. Her win over the 11th-ranked Italian serves as the second-best match victory of her full-scale 2006 comeback, having defeated fourth-ranked Maria Sharapova in the Tokyo [Pan Pacific] semifinals. "It was definetly a good perfornance today," said Hingis, who is now 2-0 lifetime against Schiavone, having defeated the Italian in the 2001 Roland Garros quarterfinals, also in straight sets. "I played smart and concentrated throughout the whole match. It was key in the first games to hold serve. "My best year was in 1997. Now I'm in the second part of my career and I need to win with different weapons since the game has changed. So far so good." Next up for Hingis will be an in-form Svetlana Kuznetsova, who moved past teen-aged Russian compatriot Maria Kirilenko 46 63 62 to reach the last eight. Kuznetsova has won three consecutive matches at all three events she has played this year coming in, reaching the semifinals at Sydney, the fourth round at the Australian Open and the semifinals at Dubai (snapping Mauresmo's 16-match win streak along the way). The powerful Russian also has fond memories of Doha, notching her lone career victory over a reigning world No.1 with a three set upset of Justine Henin-Hardenne en route to a runner-up finish two years ago. "I have never played her before and I'm looking forward to it," Hingis added. "I have nothing to lose. I watched her last week against Mauresmo. She can play, you don't win the US open without knowing how to play the game." Mauresmo and Petrova both cruised into the quarterfinals in straight sets as well. The Frenchwoman downed countrywoman Marion Bartoli 60 62, allowing no looks at even a break point against her and winning over twice as many points (56-27) during the 58-minute demolition. The Russian posted a similarly easy 61 62 victory over Eleni Daniilidou, a former Top 15 player who had to qualify for the main draw at this week's event. |