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Marching on Kournikova, Mauresmo reach Kremlin Cup semifinals
Updated: Friday October 27, 2000 11:47 PM
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian Marat Safin, who has won the U.S. Open but never a Russian pro tournament, downed Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus 7-6 (5), 6-1 in the US$2.05 million Kremlin Cup Friday. Although the tiebreaker first set foretold a tough match, Safin cruised in the second. "He lost his concentration, while I was playing better," said Safin, who fired 16 aces. Second-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia easily dispatched German qualifier Lars Burgsmuller 6-3, 6-2, while fourth-seeded Marc Rosset of Switzerland overcame a mysterious pain seizure to beat Russian wild card Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2). At 4-all in the second set, Rosset fell back onto the court and remained motionless until the trainer came. "I heard like a click and had a huge pain through the legs," he said. "They told me it was nothing really bad, just that some thing moved." In women's play, second-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France downed eighth seed Barbara Schett of Austria 7-6 (7), 6-2. In the semifinals, Tauziat will meet Russia's fourth-seeded Anna Kournikova, who breezed past compatriot Tatiana Panova 6-4, 6-1. The tired Panova, playing her fifth consecutive tournament, could challenge Kournikova only in the first set. "There was nothing special in her game today, but I couldn't play better," said Panova. Fifth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France advanced to her fourth semifinal this year by eliminating unseeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, the first time they have played each other. Maleeva, who won the tournament in 1995, won the first set and was just two points away from her second semifinal this year and second consecutive upset in the tournament. She was up 6-5 in the second set and ahead 40-30 in the game, but then made a double-fault to lose the set on a tiebreaker. "This was probably the only bad game I've played in the whole match," said Maleeva, who upset third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain on Thursday. "The lesson for me today - I should keep the basis of my game serene and stay cool," said Mauresmo, who in the semifinals will face world No. 1 Martina Hingis. Also Friday, David Prinosil of Germany fired 19 aces to beat Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-6 (5) in a tough match that lasted for 2 hours and 41 minutes, the longest of the tournament. The winner of the women's event will get US$166,000 prize money while the men's champion will receive US$137,000.
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