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| March 16, 2007 | Friday | Safar 26, 1428 |
Murray and Haas move ahead as Li enters semis
INDIAN WELLS (California), March 15: British No 1 Andy Murray outgunned Nikolay Davydenko while Li Na and Daniela Hantuchova booked a semi-final clash with hard-fought wins at the ATP/WTA Pacific Life Open.
Murray stepped up his bid for his third career title with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 win over Russian fourth seed Davydenko on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals at the hardcourt tournament.
The 19-year-old Scotsman ended on a high, firing a 220 kph (137 mph) ace on the final point in the match.
Murray played with a sense of purpose from the beginning to end, using one of his two challenges to reverse a call on the first point of the match to his favour.
Li fought back from the brink of defeat to earn the first semi-final spot with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Vera Zvonareva, who had knocked out defending champ Maria Sharapova the day before.
Hantuchova survived a scare from Peer 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) in match that lasted almost three hours in the main stadium.
In the night match, Germany's Tommy Haas overpowered Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 6-2 in a fourth round contest.
Haas avenged a loss to the Chilean in their last meeting 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-finals of this year's Australian Open.
Murray, who was the last man to beat Roger Federer before Guillermo Canas knocked the three-time defending champ out on Sunday, broke Davydenko's serve three times and fired 10 aces.
Murray is off to a career best 18-3 start and moves into his first quarter-finals here where he will face Haas. The two have never met before.
Davydenko, who had a 2-1 career record against Murray going into Wednesday's contest, committed 42 unforced errors.
Murray has two career ATP titles, successfully defending his San Jose crown last month.
The 19-year-old Murray lost two matches against Davydenko in 2006, including their first career meeting at Indian Wells.
Chinese dynamo Li fought back from a 5-1 deficit in the second set to defeat Russian 15th seed Zvonareva.
Zvonareva's exit from Indian Wells comes one day after she knocked out defending champion and top seed Maria Sharapova of Russia 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Hantuchova had to overcome 61 unforced errors to beat Israel's Peer in a two hour, 53 minute marathon quarter-final.
Hantuchova broke Peer's serve four times and hit twice as many forehand winners (22-10).
Czech Nicole Vaidisova and second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova play their quarter-final match on Thursday. The other quarter-final features Austria's Sybille Bammer against Tatiana Golovin of France.
On the men's side of the draw, Serbia's Novak Djokovic beat France's Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-1 in a fourth round match.
Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men’s singles:
Fourth round: 12-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 6-3, 6-1; 13-Andy Murray (Britain) beat 4-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; 9-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat 5-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) 6-3, 6-2; 14-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Carlos Moya (Spain) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Women’s singles:
Quarter-finals: 14-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat 11-Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5); 12-Li Na (China) beat 15-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 6-4, 7-5.
Tuesday’s results:
Men’s singles:
Fourth round: 3-Andy Roddick (US) beat 15-Richard Gasquet (France) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat 22-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 6-1, 6-1; 30-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) beat Michael Russell (US) 6-4, 6-4; 8-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat 10-David Nalbandian (Argentina) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Women’s singles:
Fourth round: 2-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat 16-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-2, 6-2; 33-Sybille Bammer (Austria) beat 10-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-3; Hantuchova beat 3-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-3; 13-Tatiana Golovin (France) beat 4-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 6-2, 1-0 – Petrova retired; 6-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) beat 17-Marion Bartoli (France) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Peer beat 8-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2); Li Na beat 7-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 6-3, 7-6 (7-1); Zvonareva beat 1-Maria Sharapova (Russia) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.—Agencies
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