Serena, Davenport advance as Myskina falls in Dubai
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-04 16:19

World number one Lindsay Davenport and fellow American Serena Williams advanced to the semi-finals of the one-million-dollar WTA Dubai Open as Switzerland's Patty Schndyer saved a match point on her way to defeating French Open champion Anastasia Myskina.

Anastasia Myskina, of Russia, returns the ball to Patty Schnyder, of Switzerland, during their quarterfinal match at the Dubai Open tennis Tournament in Dubai, UAE. Thursday, March 3, 2005. Schnyder won 6-7, 6-7, 6-2. [AP]

Top seed Davenport eased past Spanish veteran Conchita Martinez 6-1, 6-4, to set up a meeting with Schnyder, who earlier ousted third seed Myskina 6-7 (0/7), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.

Williams, the second seed, ended the run of Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-3, and next meets Jelena Jankovic, the unseeded Serbian who abruptly ended the run of 18-year-old Indian Sania Mirza, 6-2, 6-2.

Australian Open champion Williams was focused on the task in hand against Hantuchova after dropping a set to Elena Bovina the night before.

"I didn't want to get off to a slow start against Daniela because she's got back to form," said world number four Williams.

"I definitely have been practising harder, and though I'm not number one it's going to come soon. But it's not my priority - that's to win Grand Slam titles. A lot of people assume I'm number one anyway," the seven-time Grand Slam winner added.

Davenport, meanwhile, timed the ball better and recovered from a break of serve down in the second set to win 6-1, 6-4 against Martinez, the 32-year-old former Wimbledon champion.

The American looked much more comfortable in a lighter breeze than she had been the previous night against Zheng Jie of China, when she launched a ball out of the stadium and received a rare code violation warning.

Earlier Myskina threw away a match point before becoming the second Grand Slam titleholder from Russia to go out of the Dubai Open within two days after US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Myskina was one set and 6-5 up and also advantage point up against Schnyder, the world number 14 from Switzerland, before falling in three sets to a talented but unpredictable opponent.

"We had only 20 days break between the seasons and that is the biggest reason why I am not playing well," said Myskina, whose 2004, and Kuznetsova's, was extended by their efforts in helping Russia to win the Fed Cup for the first time in Moscow at the end of November.

Schnyder admitted: "I was lucky in the second set. And I can't tell what was going through my mind. It was up and down - there were so many things. I played the match point by instinct."

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