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PARIS, Oct 31: Unseeded Andrei Pavel, finally rediscovering his form after a lengthy injury break, booked an eastern European semifinal at the Paris Masters when he beat fifth seed Rainer Schuettler 2-6 6-3 6-2 on Friday.
The Romanian will play 14th seed Jiri Novak after the Czech followed up his shock defeat of top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero on Thursday by thrashing Moroccan qualifier Hicham Arazi 6-2 6-1.
There is something about French courts which suits Pavel who was out for six months with back and wrist injuries and won his first match in nine tournaments this season in Metz.
He reached the last four in that September event despite having been 4-1 down in the final set and then saving a match point in his opening round defeat of Dominik Hrbaty.
In the second round here his opponent, fourth seed Guillermo Coria, withdrew with a fever and on Friday his German opponent finally ran out of gas after playing in 31 tournaments in 2003.
Finalist in the Australian Open in January, Schuettler will become the first and only player to compete in 100 singles matches this season when he takes part in the season-ending Masters Cup in Houston next month.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Quarterfinals: 14-Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) beat Hicham Arazi (Morocco) 6-2 6-1; Andrei Pavel (Romania) beat 5-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 2-6 6-3 6-2
Mauresmo into LAST 8
VILLANOVA (Philadelphia): Second seed Amelie Mauresmo of France and third seed Anastasia Myskina of Russia advanced to the quarterfinals of the Advanta Championships on Thursday after winning their opening matches.
Mauresmo survived a tough first set to defeat countrywoman Stephanie Cohen Aloro 7-6 6-4 in the feature evening match after Myskina had earlier eased past Nicole Pratt of Australia 6-3 6-2.
With top seed Venus Williams withdrawing from the event through injury on Sunday, Mauresmo and Myskina became the only players ranked in the world’s top-10 left in the tournament.
The pair received byes directly into the second round along with the fourth and fifth seeds, Chanda Rubin and Ai Sugiyama.
The in-form Myskina has won four titles already this year and will be confident of advancing to the last four at the expense of Marlene Weingartner.
The unseeded German advanced to the quarter-finals when 10th seed Tina Pisnik of Slovenia pulled out of their match due to a right elbow sprain.
Japan’s Sugiyama was forced to battle hard in her match before finally subduing Tathiana Garbin of Italy 6-4 6-7 6-3.
She moves on to meet ninth-seeded American Meghann Shaughnessy in the quarterfinals.
The 28-year-old Sugiyama is looking to clinch a spot in the eight-woman field for next week’s season-ending WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles.
She is 10th on the list to qualify, but players ahead of her are expected to drop out due to injuries.
Russia’s Nadia Petrova, the seventh seed, also advanced with a hard-fought 6-1 5-7 6-3 win over Slovakian qualifier Martina Sucha.
Petrova lines up against Rubin on Friday while Mauresmo rounds off the quarterfinals with a match against Lisa Raymond of the U.S.
The Tier II hardcourt event on the campus of Villanova University near Philadelphia has a first place prize of $93,000. — Reuters
Second round results:
2-Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (France) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 3-Anastasia Myskina (Russia) beat Nicole Pratt (Australia) 6-3 6-2 5-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Martina Sucha (Slovakia) 6-1 5-7 6-3 Marlene Weingartner (Germany) beat 10-Tina Pisnik (Slovenia), walkover.— Reuters
