August 4, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 24,1423

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TORONTO, Aug 3: Argentine Guillermo Canas improved his unexpected run of hard-court success, ousting second seed Marat Safin 7-5, 6-3 on Friday for a semifinal spot at the Canadian Masters Series.

Canas added the 2000 Toronto event winner Safin to a victim list which also includes tenth seed Roger Federer and No 5 seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

The South American has now notched wins over this year’s Australian Open finalist Safin in both of the pair’s hard-court matches.

The 24-year-old Canas from Buenos Aires is aiming to become the first Argentine winner at the event since Guillermo Vilas in 1974 and 1976.

In other matches Friday, Germany’s Tommy Haas advanced to the semis with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over France’s Fabrice Santoro; American Andy Roddick beat David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-3, 6-2; Czech Jiri Novak defeated France’s Sebastien Grosjean 7-5, 6-3.

Roddick, 19, dropped just nine points on serve and has yet to be threatened this week on the cement, winning 41 of his 42 service games.

Roddick left Nalbandian with a 7-5 record on cement this season.

The Argentine was playing in his first hard-court tournament since the Miami Masters in March when he lost to countryman Franco Squillari in the first round.

FRIDAY’S RESULTS (PREFIX NUMBER DENOTES SEEDING):

QUARTERFINALS: Guillermo Canas (Argentina) beat 2-Marat Safin (Russia) 7-5, 6-3; 3-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat Fabrice Santoro (France) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Andy Roddick (US) beat David Nalbandian (Argentina) 6-3, 6-2; Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) beat Sebastien Grosjean (France) 7-5, 6-3.

KOURNIKOVA IN SEMIS

SAN DIEGO (California): Unseeded Anna Kournikova of Russia outlasted 12th seed Anna Smashnova of Israel 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to semifinals of the Acura Classic tournament.

Kournikova, who boosted her 2002 match record to 21-20, and Smashnova put on a drama-filled display of tennis lasting two hours and 20 minutes.

Kournikova advances to the San Diego semifinals for the second time in her career where she will face Jelena Dokic.

The match, which featured 12 deuce games and numerous long rallies, began with Smashnova breaking Kournikova three times and winning the first set in 29 minutes.

Smashnova, ranked 19th in the world, was exceptional from the baseline as she pinned Kournikova deep in the backcourt.

But Kournikova fought back like she did in her third-round victory over Conchita Martinez as she evened the match when she broke Smashnova at 5-3 in the second set.

After dropping serve in the first game of the third set and falling behind 2-0, Kournikova won the next four games for a 4-2 lead.

It was Smashnova’s turn to come back as the Israeli broke Kournikova’s serve to tie the set.

Kournikova, ranked 47th in the world, then hit a booming overhead winner to go up 5-4 to the delight of the capacity crown cheering on the Russian beauty.

With Smashnova serving to stay in the match at 5-4, Kournikova had two break points.

Serving at 30-40, Smashnova framed a topspin backhand wide to send Kournikova into the semi-finals.

Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters clashed for the second straight week and while the match was much closer, the outcome was the same.

The top-seeded Williams recorded 31 winners but overcame 73 unforced errors Friday to edge the fifth-seeded Clijsters 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, in one hour, 51 minutes.

In the semifinal, Williams faces No 3 Lindsay Davenport, who crushed Ai Sugiyama, 6-1, 6-1.

In the other Friday match, Dokic stopped American second seed Jennifer Capriati 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

FRIDAY’S RESULTS:

QUARTERFINALS: 6-Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia) beat 2-Jennifer Capriati (US) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; 3-Lindsay Davenport (US) beat Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-1, 6-1; Anna Kournikova (Russia) beat 12-Anna Smashnova (Israel) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; 1-Venus Williams (US) beat 5-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.—AFP/Reuters