9 April 2005	Saturday	29 Safar 1426

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AMELIA ISLAND,(Florida) April 8: Top seed American Lindsay Davenport and sixth seed Vera Zvonareva advanced to the quarterfinals of the 585,000 dollars WTA Bausch and Lomb Championships before rain showeres washed away the rest of Thursday’s schedule.

When play resumes, No 2 Serena Williams, No 3 Anastasia Myskina and No 5 Venus Williams will be among the players looking for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Davenport cruised past Czech qualifier Kveta Peschke 6-2, 6-2, while Zvonareva bested fellow Russian and ninth seed Elena Likhovtseva 6-4, 6-4, in third-round matches on a wet on Thursday afternoon.

Davenport will face either fellow American Venus Williams, the fifth seed, or Polish qualifier Marta Domachowska in the quarterfinals.

Domachowska won the first set 6-3 before Williams won the second 6-4 and thunderstorms caused play to be suspended.

Zvonareva next will face either No. 13 Ai Sugiyama of Japan or Virginie Razzano of France. Razzano held a 6-4, 6-6 lead when play was stopped.

Also on Thursday Serena Williams slated to face No 14 Mary Pierce of France.

“I played her this time last year,” Serena Williams said. “She played me really tough. She went on to have a great season, doing well at the Olympics and some other tournaments. I know Mary is definitely no pushover, especially against big players.”

The winner will face the victor of the match between eighth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and No. 12 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy.

In other matches, Myskina, of Russia, faces No. 15 Shinobu Asagoe of Japan, with the winner to meet either seventh-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova or No. 11 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro.

Results: (third round)

Lindsay Davenport (USA) bt Kveta Peschke (CZE) 6-2, 6-2; Vera Zvonareva (RUS) bt Elena Likhovtseva (RUS) 6-4, 6-4.

Nadal beaten

VALENCIA (Spain): Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal, the third seed, suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Russian Igor Andreev in the quarterfinals of the Valencia ATP claycpourt tournament on Friday.

The 18-year-old, with two classy titles to his name already this season, lost 7-5, 6-2 to the seventh seeded Russian, a bitter disappointment after he had pushed world number one Roger Federer to five sets in the final in Miami last week.

Quarterfinals results: Igor Andreev (RUS ) bt Rafael Nadal (ESP) 7-5, 6-2; Ivan Navarro Pastor (ESP) bt Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4.—AFP