July 18, 2008	Friday	Rajab 14, 1429

INDIANAPOLIS, July 17: Frenchman Gilles Simon raced through the third set to defeat Germany’s Benjamin Becker on Wednesday and advance to the quarter-finals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships.

Second-seeded Simon posted a 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 win, dropping only three points on serve against Becker in the final set.

The victory put Simon, ranked a career-high 25th, into the quarter-finals of his fifth tournament this season, highlighted by a title win in Casablanca.

Simon, 23, will play German fifth seed Tommy Haas, who defeated American John Isner 6-3, 6-4.

Chile’s Paul Capdeville, who upset seventh seed and 2005 champion Robby Ginepri in the opening round, reached his first ATP quarter-final of the season by defeating Australian qualifier Joseph Sirianni 6-3, 6-4.

Capdeville faces a sterner test in the next round, when he encounters third-seeded and champion Dmitry Tursunov of Russia.

Tursunov moved into the quarter-finals without swinging a racquet when American Wayne Odesnik withdrew prior to their match on Wednesday with a back injury.

Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Second round: 5-Tommy Haas (Germany) bt John Isner (US) 6-3, 6-4; 3-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt Wayne Odesnik (US) – walkover; 2-Gilles Simon (France) bt Benjamin Becker (Germany) 7-5, 3-6, 6-0; Paul Capdeville (Chile) bt Joseph Sirianni (Australia) 6-3, 6-4.

HANTUCHOVA BEATEN

STANFORD (California): Fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova was sent crashing out of the Stanford event while Anna Chakvetadze stepped up her play with a second round victory on Wednesday.

Two of the top four players to earn byes at the hardcourt event, the second-seeded Chakvetadze cruised past unseeded Israeli Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-4 while Hantuchova was upset by unseeded veteran Ai Sugiyama of Japan who won 6-3, 6-1.

Top-seeded Serena Williams could present a major roadblock in Chakvetadze’s repeat bid.

In the late match on Wednesday, Williams had to rally to beat Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The 26-year-old American, owner of three titles and a 32-4 record this season, was playing her first match since losing to sister Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final.

Chakvetadze was playing some of the best tennis of her career at this time last season, claiming the title here just a week after winning the championship in Cincinnati.

Results:

Second round: 1-Serena Williams (US) bt Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Ai Sugiyama (Japan) bt 4-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-1; 2- Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) bt Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-3, 6-4; Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-3.—Agencies