Written by Editor
Thursday, 09 October 2008

 Russia's Dinara Safina reached the quarter-finals of the Kremelin Cup
with a win over French former world number one Amelie Mauresmo.
Serbia's Ana Ivanovic's slump continued, as she was sent packing by
Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova.
Ana Ivanovic became the second high-profile player to tumble out of
the Kremlin Cup in two days after losing to Dominika Cibulkova 3-6 6-2
7-6 on Wednesday.

The Serbian fourth seed followed Wimbledon champion and sixth seed
Venus Williams, who was ousted by Italy's Flavia Pennetta in the first
round on Tuesday.

World number five Ivanovic had two match points in the 10th game but
the unseeded Slovak fought back to force a tiebreak, where she held
her nerve to clinch a memorable victory.
 "It was my first match against Ana so I really didn't know what to
expect from her," Cibulkova told a news conference.

"In the first set I was nervous and played defensively but in the
second and third sets I became more aggressive, putting pressure on
her. In the tiebreak, I knew I had to stay aggressive to win the match
and that's what I did."

Second seed Dinara Safina avoided the exit after outlasting former
world number one Amelie Mauresmo 6-7 6-4 6-4 in the last match on
centre court which finished near midnight.

Safina led 5-2 in the decider before the Frenchwoman, who has dropped
outside the top 20 because of injury and poor form, staged a late
rally.

She broke the world number three in the ninth game to get back on
serve 5-4 but the Russian hit right back to seal a hard-fought
victory.

Olympic champion Elena Dementieva also showed her fighting qualities
to outlast Slovenian qualifier Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 4-6 7-6 to reach
the quarter-finals.

DEMENTIEVA ACES

The Russian third seed hit two successive aces in the tiebreak to end
a contest that lasted nearly three hours.

"I've played her several times this season and every time I have had
problems with her game," said holder Dementieva who lost to Srebotnik
in their last encounter in Tokyo last month.

"I was prepared this time, so it paid off."

Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova also reached the last eight, the
Russian eliminating Italian Sara Errani 7-6 6-1, but compatriot Anna
Chakvetadze, seeded eighth, disappointed home fans at the Olympic
sports complex.

Chakvetadze, who has struggled for form for much of the year, lost to
Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki 2-6 6-1 6-4.

Men's third seed Mikhail Youzhny was also shown the door, going down
to fellow Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-5 4-6 7-6.

World number 22 Youzhny was expected to beat his lesser-known
compatriot but paid the price for losing his cool in the tiebreak as
he allowed the 66th-ranked Gabashvili to reel off the last seven
points in the match.

Second-seeded Russian Igor Andreev, who won here in 2005, also bowed
out, losing to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 3-6 7-5 6-4.

Russia lost another seed when fifth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov, who won
his fifth ATP title in Metz on Sunday, withdrew from his first-round
match without hitting a ball with a shoulder injury.
Fourth seed and 2002 winner Paul-Henri Mathieu of France had little
problem dispatching Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3 6-2.

full news
http://www.mrchat.net/dummy-article/sport/ivanovic-mauresmo-tumble-de...