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Raymond upsets Dokic at Pan Pacific Posted: Friday January 31, 2003 5:28 AM
TOKYO (AP) -- American Lisa Raymond upset second-seeded Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia on Friday to advance to the semifinals of US$1.3 million Toray Pan Pacific tennis tournament. After dropping the first three games at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Raymond, currently 30th in the WTA rankings, fought back for a 6-4, 6-2 straight-sets victory over Dokic in a match that lasted only 59 minutes. "I've never beaten Jelena before," Raymond said. "I think yesterday's match helped me a lot. I was down in that match too and then came back to win." Raymond defeated fifth-seeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 on Thursday. Dokic, who sat out the Australian Open and posted a 7-6, 6-4 win over Indonesia's Angelique Widjaja in her second-round match on Thursday, looked sluggish in Friday's quarterfinal but Raymond refused to question her motivation. "As far as whether she was trying or not, you'd have to ask her that," Raymond said. "She's a professional and I certainly don't think she was going to hand me the match." Later Friday, Lindsay Davenport takes on Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn to set up what could be an all American semifinals. Earlier, top-seeded Monica Seles of the United States posted a straight-sets victory over Russia's Lina Krasnoroutskaya. The former World No. 1 took advantage of unforced errors and solid groundstrokes on her way to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Krasnoroutskaya at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in 1 hour, 19 minutes. In the second set, Seles raced out to a 4-0 lead before Krasnoroutskaya pulled back to make it 4-3 by breaking Seles' serve in the seventh game. "The surface here is so fast and all of a sudden it was 4-4," said Seles. "So I was lucky to got to 5-4 and then win it without going to a third set." Seles, who defeated Japan's Ai Sugiyama in the second round on Wednesday and is currently ninth in the WTA rankings, looked more confident in her second match, lost in the second round in the Australian Open after injuring her ankle early in a three-set loss to Klara Koukalova. "Not doing well in Australia still hurts so it's important to do well here," said Seles. "Lina hits it hard and flat and that was giving me a lot of trouble today. American Chanda Rubin rallied from one set down for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Russian Elena Dementieva. "She started very strongly," said Rubin. "But once I found my rhythm I felt more comfortable. That game at 4-3 in the third set was important." The Toray is Asia's only top-tier tournament. Defending champion Martina Hingis pulled out with an ankle injury.
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