September 22, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 09, 1428

BEIJING, Sept 21: Former world number one Lindsay Davenport powered into the quarter-finals of the China Open on Thursday, notching her seventh straight win since rejoining the tour after giving birth in June.

World number three Jelena Jankovic also reached the quarter-finals, administering a 6-0, 6-0 thrashing of Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual in just 45 minutes.

But all eyes were on the comeback mum Davenport, who defeated Eleni Daniilidou, 7-5, 6-3, in a case of deja vu — the American knocked out the Greek in the first round of the Bali International last week.

Daniilidou, who has now lost all three career meetings with Davenport dating back to 2002, did herself no favours, losing her serve five times.

Davenport, 31, arrived in Beijing after winning the title on the Indonesian resort island, testing the waters in Asia as she contemplates a full-time return to tennis in 2008 after a year out of the game. The three-time Grand Slam champion has said she will assess her options after Beijing. Should she decide to come back to the WTA tour full-time, she would likely make her next appearance in Australia in January.

Jankovic, the second seed here who was defeated by Davenport in a bad-tempered Bali quarter-final, wasted no time as she launched her Beijing campaign against the 33-year-old Ruano Pascual.

The Serbian will face Japan’s Akiko Morigami, who beat Aiko Nakamura 7-5, 6-3.

Elena Dementieva, the Russian fourth seed, began her week in the Chinese capital with a 51-minute 6-2, 6-0 demolition of talented Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek.

Thursday’s results (x denotes seeding):

Second round: Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Eleni Daniilidou (GRE x8) 7-5, 6-3; Elena Dementieva (RUS x4) bt Tamira Paszek (AUT) 6-2, 6-0; Akiko Morigami (JPN) bt Aiko Nakamura (JPN) 7-5, 6-3; Jelena Jankovic (SRB x2) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) 6-0, 6-0.

HANTUCHOVA IN QUARTERS

KOLKATA: Second seed Daniela Hantuchova easily advanced to the quarter-finals of the 175,000-dollar WTA Sunfeast Open here on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Anastasia Rodionova of Russia.

The Slovak, who needed barely an hour to finish off Rodionova, will meet Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan in the final eight.

American teenager Vania King, who notched the biggest upset of the tournament on Tuesday by defeating top seed Marion Bartoli of France, failed to sustain her form, losing 6-1, 6-2 to Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine.

Seventh seed Italian Flavia Pennetta defeated Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova 6-1, 6-3, setting up a quarter-final clash with fourth seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia.

Pennetta’s powerful forehands and double-handed backhands were too much for Amanmuradova, who only held serve in the opening game of the set before Pennetta won six on the trot to wrap it up.

In the second, Amanmuradova battled to 3-all, but the Italian broke in the eighth game and finished it out, 6-3.

There was disappointment for the home crowd when wild card Sunitha Rao lost to Britain’s Anne Keothavong 6-3, 6-2 in a late-night match. Keothavong will meet Tzipora Obziler of Israel in the quarter-finals.

Earlier in the day, Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus swept past Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-1 to book a last-eight date with Koryttseva.

Thursday’s results:

Second round: Mariya Koryttseva (UKR) bt Vania King (US) 6-1, 6-2; Flavia Pennetta (ITA x7) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 6-1, 6-3; Tatiana Poutchek (BLR) bt Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 6-3, 6-1; Daniela Hantuchova (SVK x2) bt Anastasia Rodionova (RUS) 6-2, 6-1; Anne Keothavong (GBR) bt Sunitha Rao (IND) 6-3, 6-2.—AFP