September 28, 2007	Friday	Ramazan 15, 1428

SEOUL, Sept 27: Venus Williams coasted into the Korea Open quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Thailand’s Tamirine Tanasugarn on Thursday.

Despite wearing strapping on her right leg, the top seeded Venus made short work of Tamirine on an overcast afternoon before heavy rain forced a suspension of play at Olympic Park with two second round matches remaining.

Venus will meet Marta Domachowska of Poland in quarter-finals after the Pole defeated Frenchwoman Severine Bremond 7-5, 6-2. Defending champion, No. 5 Eleni Daniilidou of Greece also cruised into the final eight with a 6-3, 6-2 win over American Ahsha Rolle.

Thursday’s results (x denotes seeding):

Second round: Marta Domachowska (POL) bt Severine Bremond (FRA) 7-5, 6-2; Eleni Daniilidou (GRE x5) bt Ahsha Rolle (US) 6-3, 6-2; Venus Williams (US x1) bt Tamarine Tanasugrn (THA) 6-2, 6-1; Agnes Szavy (HUN x2) bt Galina Voskoboeva (RUS) 6-1, 6-4; Maria Kirilenko (RUS x4) bt Meng Yuan (CHN) 6-4, 6-2.

TURSUNOV IN LAST EIGHT BANGKOK: Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov shrugged off exhaustion to book a place in the Thailand Open quarter-finals here on Thursday, downing France’s Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.

Tursunov arrived in Bangkok straight from helping Russia defeat Germany on the weekend to reach the Davis Cup final.

Tursunov faces Taiwan’s Wang Yeu-tzuoo, who defeated Australian teenager Nick Lindahl 6-3, 6-3.

Ranked 29 in the world, Tursunov this week ended a run of three straight first-round defeats over the summer by downing Austria’s Werner Eschauer. He secured his second career ATP title last July at Indianapolis.

In other matches, Spanish eighth seed Fernando Verdasco fought back from one set down to defeat 23-year-old Canadian Frank Dancevic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Thursday’s results:

Second round: Dmitry Tursunov (RUS x6) bt Michael Llodra (FRA) 6-4, 6-4; Fernando Verdasco (ESP x8) bt Frank Dancevic (CAN) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Wang Yeu-tzuoo (TPE) bt Nick Lindahl (AUS) 6-3, 6-3; Nicolas Mahut (FRA) bt Tommy Haas (GER x4) 6-4, 6-4; Ivo Karlovic (CRO x7) bt Simon Stadler (GER) 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 7-5; Benjamin Becker (GER) bt Danai Udomchoke (THA) 6-2, 6-3.

HEWITT EASES THROUGH MUMBAI: Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt walked into the second round of the Mumbai Open here on Thursday after thumping Taiwan qualifier Ti Chen 6-3, 6-3.

The second-seed Australian now meets Serbia’s Boris Pashanski who rallied to down Argentina’s Sergio Roitman 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in his first outing here.

Hewitt, 26, was scheduled to open his campaign on Wednesday but the match was postponed due to rain. He was also initially a doubtful starter after pulling out of a crucial Davis Cup tie against Serbia in Belgrade on Sunday with a viral infection.

Ivan Navarro of Spain also advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over India’s Purav Raja. He will meet eighth-seed Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the next round.

On Wednesday, sixth-seeded Stefan Koubek of Austria moved into the second round with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Chile’s Paul Capdeville.

Belgian Olivier Rochus also had an easy opening round, beating Robin Haase of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-2. Fourth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, Frenchman Nicolas Devilder, Japan’s Toshihide Matsui and Italy’s Fabio Fognini also advanced to the second round.

Nieminen led 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 2-0 when his Italian opponent Davide Sanguinetti retired due to fatigue, while Devilder overcame an opening-set deficit to down Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11/9).

Thursday’s results:

Second round: Olivier Rochus (BEL x8) bt Ivan Navarro (ESP) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Stefan Koubek (AUT x6) bt Bjoern Phau (GER) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; Nicolas Kiefer (GER) bt Lu Yen-hsun (TAI) 6-3, 6-3; Fabrice Santoro (FRA x5) bt Nicolas Devilder (FRA) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Jarkko Nieminen (FIN x4) bt Toshihide Matsui (JAP) 6-0, 6-4.—Agencies