Seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova, struggling with consistency but using a strong
power game, upset No. 4 Chanda Rubin 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 Friday in the quarterfinals
of the Advanta Championships.
Also advancing to Saturday's semifinals were No. 2 Ameile Mauresmo, who beat
Lisa Raymond 6-3, 6-3; No. 3 Anastasia Myskina, who defeated Marlene Weingartner
6-3, 6-1; and No. 5 Ai Sugiyama, who ousted ninth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy
6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
Petrova placed only 43 percent of her first serves in play but was dominant
in other areas, converting 72 percent of those first serves into points. Rubin
saved two set points at 5-3 in the first set, eventually forcing a tiebreak, and
fought off three match points in the final set.
"On the most important points, you can never expect an easy point from her,"
Petrova said. "You just have to focus on what you're doing."
Mauresmo and Raymond started off evenly, both broken in their first service
opportunities and were on serve at three games each, when Mauresmo broke Raymond
and then made short work of the final two games to take the first set.
After going down 4-1 in the second set, Raymond won the next two games, but
Mauresmo shut her down to win the match.
"After a few games, I thought I was reading her serve very well, I got into a
rhythm on returns and I had a very good serve," Mauresmo said.
Myskina had little trouble with Weingartner, dazzling the crowd with her
fluid and graceful groundstrokes combined with a strong service game.
Sugiyama won the first set with relative ease, but Shaughnessy took the
second set in seven games. Sugiyama took a 5-1 lead in the third, but
Shaughnessy fought off six match points before losing.
