BRISBANE (Australia), Jan 9: Seventh seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet upset countryman and doubles partner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International tennis tournament on Friday.

After being blown off court in the opening set Gasquet staged a remarkable comeback to down the second seeded Tsonga in 98 minutes.

Friday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s:

Quarter-finals: 7-Richard Gasquet (France) bt 2-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2; 8-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt 4-Robin Soderling (Sweden) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Women:

Semi-finals: 3-Marion Bartoli (France) bt 5-Amelie Mauresmo (France) 4-0 (ret); 2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) bt Sara Errani (Italy) 6-3, 6-1.

Thursday’s results:

Men’s:

Quarter-finals: Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) bt Kei Nishikori (Japan) 6-3, 6-4; 3-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Florent Serra (France) 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Women’s:

Quarter-finals: 3-Marion Bartoli (France) bt Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 6-3, 6-3; 5-Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt 1-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 6-3, 6-2; Sara Errani (Italy) bt Olga Govortsova (Belarus) 6-3, 6-3; 2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) bt Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

DEMENTIEVA, VESNINA IN FINAL

AUCKLAND: World number four Elena Dementieva and Elena Vesnina took differing paths to victory on Friday to set up an all-Russian Auckland Classic final.

Top seed and Olympic champion Dementieva took just

over an hour to sweep aside

the semi-final challenge of France’s Arivane Rezai with a 6-2, 6-2 win.

Friday’s results:

Semi-finals: 1-Elena Dementieva (Russia) bt Aravane Rezai (France) 6-2, 6-2; Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt Anne Keothavong (Great Britain) 6-7 (7-3), 6-1, 7-5.

Thursday’s results:

Quarter-finals: Aravane Rezai (France) bt Edina Gallovits (ROU) 6-3, 6-2; 1-Elena Dementieva (Russia) bt 5-Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-3, 6-1; Anne Keothavong (Great Britain) bt Ayumi Morita (Japan) 6-0, retired; Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt 2-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-3, 0-6, 6-3.

VENUS GIVES

AMERICAS LEAD

HONG KONG: Venus Williams gave the Americas an early lead in the final of Hong Kong’s World Team Challenge on Friday, beating Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze in straight sets.

Friday’s results:

Gold group final (best of five matches):

Singles: Venus Williams (Americas) bt Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.

Silver group final (best of three matches).

Doubles: Zheng Jie/Sania Mirza (Asia-Pacific) bt Jelena Jankovic/Michelle Larcher de Brito (Europe) 6-1, 6-1.

Thursday’s results:

Singles: Venus Williams (Americas) bt Jelena Jankovic (Europe) 6-2, 6-2

Gisela Dulko (Americas) bt Agnes Szavay (Europe) 6-4, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3.

Doubles: Vera Zvonareva/Alexandra Panova (Russia) bt Zheng Jie/Zhang Ling (Asia-Pacific) 6-2, 6-4.—Agencies