17 July 2004	Saturday	28 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

LOS ANGELES, July 16: American Andre Agassi defeated Julien Bennetau of France at the 380,000 dollar ATP Mercedes-Benz Cup on Thursday night, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, to move into the quarterfinals of the hard court event.

The 34-year-old Agassi, the top seed, became the sixth male player to record 800 career victories with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over fellow American Alex Bogomolov Jr. on Tuesday - his first win since March at the NASDAQ in Miami.

Agassi had dropped his last four matches, losing in the first round of the last three. He also has been suffering from inflammation in his right hip. Agassi next will face German Tommy Haas, who dominated Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, 6-2, 6-0.

Earlier, Thursday, South African Welsey Moodie upset fifth seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 7-5. Moodie's quarterfinal opponent at the first hardcourt summer event leading up to next month's U.S. Open will be American wild card Jeff Morrison, who shocked second seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, 7-5, 6-4.

SECOND ROUND RESULTS

Wesley Moodie (South Africa) bt Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 7-5; Jeff Morrison (U.S.) bt Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) 7-5 6-4; Tommy Haas (Germany) bt Kenneth Carlsen (Denmark) 6-2 6-0; Andre Agassi (U.S.) bt Julien Benneteau (France) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

DAVENPORT IN LAST EIGHT

STANFORD: Second seed Lindsay Davenport wiped out Russian Lioudmila Skavronskaia 6-1 6-1 to gain the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic on Thursday.

Two-time Stanford champion Davenport overwhelmed the hard-hitting yet erratic Skavronskaia from all over the court, frequently wrong-footing her in short and powerful rallies.

The Russian had won two Challenger-level events coming into the tournament and qualified and won her first round match at Stanford, but was no match for the three-times grand slam champion.

Davenport is just coming off a right knee injury and is trying to play it safe for an assault on the U.S. Open. Last year, a foot injury kept the Californian out of Stanford and plagued her during her favourite hard court swing.

Davenport will play qualifier Mashona Washington in the quarterfinals. Third seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland also had an easy time knocking off Australia's Nicole Pratt 6-3 6-2 and will face American veteran and sixth seed Amy Frazier, who knocked out France's Marion Bartoli 6-3 7-6.

In the other quarterfinals, Italy's Francesca Schiavone, a 4-6 6-3 7-6 winner against Croatian Jelena Kostanic, will face Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela and top seed Venus Williams meets fifth-seeded Israeli Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi.

SECOND ROUND RESULTS:

Lindsay Davenport bt Lioudmila Skavronskaia 6-1 6-1 Patty Schnyder bt Nicole Pratt 6-3 6-2 Francesca Schiavone bt Jelena Kostanic 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-2) Amy Frazier bt Marion Bartoli 6-3 7-6 (7-0)

STUTTGART ATP

STUTTGART: Results from the 614,750 euro ATP tournament on Friday:

Quarterfinals: Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) bt Albert Costa (SPA) 6-3, 6-4; Guillermo Canas (ARG) bt Radek Stepanek (CZE) 6-4, 6-4; David Ferrer (SPA) bt Rafael Nadal (SPA) 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-5; Gaston Gaudio (ARG) bt Jiri Novak (CZE) 6-4, 6-3. -Agencies