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FILDERSTADT (Germany) Oct 12: France’s Sandrine Testud caused a major upset when she sent second seed Jennifer Capriati crashing out of the 565,000-dollar WTA tournament here Friday.
World number two Capriati looked to be cruising to a place in the final four when she easily took the first set 6-2, but lost the final two sets 6-3, 6-3 to her unseeded opponent.
The loss is a blow for Australian and French Open champion Capriati as the American closes in on Switzerland’s Martina Hingis for the world number one spot.
The Rome-based Testud had gotten off to a shaky start commiting a large number of unforced errors in the opening set before settling into the tie and dominating with strong return of serves onto the line.
Testud, ranked 15th in the world, won the title here in 1998 and next meets sixth-seeded Belgian Justine Henin in Saturday’s semi-final.
Friday’s results (x denotes seeding):
Quarterfinals: Justine Henin (Bel x6) bt Anke Huber (Ger) 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 7-5; Sandrine Testud (Fra) bt Jennifer Capriati (USA x2) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3; Martina Hingis (Swi x1) bt Tatiana Panova (Rus) 6-1, 6-2.
SHANGHAI: Monica Seles of the United States secured a spot in the semi-finals of the 140,000-dollar WTA women’s tournament here on Friday.
The 27-year-old American top seed advanced after defeating Stephanie Foretz of France 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 on the fifth day of the Shanghai event.
Ai Sugiyama, Japan’s fourth-seeded medal hope, was not so lucky, bowing out of a match against Italy’s seventh seed Rita Grande.
Sugiyama, a 26-year-old Wimbledon doubles finalist, retired in the third set due to back problems, according to organizers.
Elsewhere, Australia scored a double triumph in Friday’s matches.
Australia’s Nicole Pratt beat Taiwan’s Janet Lee 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, while Pratt’s compatriot Alicia Molik defeated Cho Yoon-Jeong of South Korea 7-5, 7-5.
Friday’s results (x denotes seed):
Women’s singles
Quarterfinals: Monica Seles (USA x1) bt Stephanie Foretz (Fra) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2; Rita Grande (Ita x7) bt Ai Sugiyama (Jpn x4) by walkover; Nicole Pratt (Aus) bt Janet Lee (Tpe) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Alicia Molik (Aus) bt Cho Yoon-Jeong (Kor) 7-5, 7-5
LYON (France): Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero and Russian Marat Safin marched into the quarter-finals of the 800,000 dollar Lyon ATP tournament here Thursday with straight sets victories.
Second-seeded Ferrero had little difficulty swatting aside German Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-2, while third-seed Safin defeated Israeli qualifier Noam Ozkun 6-3, 6-4 in their second round ties.
However fourth-seeded Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean was dumped out of the tournament following a three set battle with Swede Jonas Bjorkman.
Grosjean had struggled in the first set coming from 4-2 down to 5-4 but after forcing a tie-break lost it 7/2. The Frenchman rallied in the second set which he took 6-1.
But the Swede surged to a 4-0 lead in the third with Grosjean looking destabilised following several controversial calls.
The 23-year-old from Marseille came back to 4-3 but missed a shot to level the scores at 4-4 losing the set 6-4 and the match in 2hr 06min.
Bjorkman will meet either title-holder Arnaud Clement of France or Belgian Xavier Malisse, who play later Thursday.
Friday’s results:
Quarterfinals: Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1; 3-Marat Safin (Russia) beat Max Mirnyi (Belarus) 2-6 6-4 6-4
VIENNA: Collated results in the 800,000-dollar Vienna ATP tournament here on Thursday (x denotes seeding):
Second round: Roger Federer (Swi x4) bt Albert Costa (Spa) 7-6 (7/1), 6-2; Tommy Haas (Ger x6) bt Jiri Novak (Cze) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3; Andreas Vinciguerra (Swe) bt Adrian Voinea (Rom) 6-4, 7-5; Michel Kratochvil (Swi) bt Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5); Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze) bt Tommy Robredo (Spa) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; Stefan Koubek (Aut) bt Michael Chang (USA) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.—AFP
