Davenport eases into semis, Roddick also wins easily
The 31-year-old American broke her 17-year-old opponent, the sixth seed, three times in the first set before sealing victory in 53 minutes.
Davenport will meet New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic in the last four.
Qualifier Erakovic earlier came from behind to beat Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
In the other women’s quarter-finals, third seed Shahar Peer of Israel battled past seventh-seeded Swede Sofia Arvidsson 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 and fifth-seeded Olga Govortsova of Belarus beat German Julia Goerges 7-6, 6-2.
In the men’s draw, top-seeded Andy Roddick blasted past fellow American Mardy Fish 6-4, 6-2 in a second-round match.
Roddick unleashed 14 aces to cruise to victory in just over an hour and book a quarter-final meeting with eighth-seeded Swede Robin Soederling, who crushed Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-2, 6-1.
Big-serving Australian Chris Guccione fired down 15 aces to upset sixth seed Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4 while veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman beat fifth-seeded American Sam Querrey 6-4, 4-6, 7-6.
Guccione will meet fourth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek in the last eight where Bjorkman faces American Donald Young, a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 winner over Colombian Alejandro Falla.
Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men’s singles:
Second round: 1-Andy Roddick (US) bt Mardy Fish (US) 6-4, 6-2; Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) bt 5-Sam Querrey (US) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4); Chris Guccione (Australia) bt 6-Thomas Johansson (Sweden) 6-3, 6-4; Donald Young (US) bt Alejandro Falla (Colombia) 6-1, 1-6, 6-3; 8-Robin Soederling (Sweden) bt Victor Hanescu (Romania) 6-2, 6-1.
Women’s singles:
Quarter-finals: 4-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt 6-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-0, 6-2; Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; 5-Olga Govortsova (Belarus) bt Julia Goerges (Germany) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; 3-Shahar Peer (Israel) bt 7-Sofia Arvidsson (Sweden) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
HENIN DETHRONED
DUBAI: World No 1 Justine Henin’s 17-match winning streak at the Dubai Open Championships ended on Thursday when she was defeated 7-6, 7-6 by unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone in the quarter-finals.
The Belgian top seed made an unusual number of unforced errors as the feisty Italian ran her opponent all over the court and chased every ball.
Henin, a four-time winner here, felt tired after taking three hours to defeat Katarina Srebotnik on Wednesday, so the last thing she wanted was to face an opponent with the terrier-like qualities of Schiavone. The Italian rallied superbly and executed some astonishing shots on the run.
Henin held just one break point in the first set, at 2-2, but made a forehand error. That proved to be expensive, as she was unable to earn another opportunity and then played a dismal tiebreak, losing it 7-3.
Schiavone then broke to lead 3-2 in the second set by forcing a backhand error, and as Henin continued to struggle the Italian broke again, at love, to lead 5-2.
Schiavone then twice failed to serve out the match, despite holding a match point at 5-4. But Henin once more played a poor tiebreak, losing the last four points as Schiavone took it 7-4.
Schiavone will next play eighth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, whose 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win was her third victory in three meetings over third seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.
Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the semi-finals after holding off a strong second set challenge to beat France’s Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 7-6.
Her next opponent will be fourth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic, who celebrated her 23rd birthday with the easiest of victories when sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze retired with an injury after losing the opening set 6-1.
Results:
Quarter-finals: 8-Elena Dementieva (Russia) bt 3-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3; Francesca Schiavone (Italy) bt 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4); 4-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) bt 6-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 6-1 – Chakvetadze retired; 2-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Amelie Mauresmo (France) 6-1, 7-6.—Reuters