Eltingh and Woodbridge through to semifinals
Eltingh and Woodbridge through to semifinals
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Second seed Jacco Eltingh took only 59 minutes to beat Malaysian Adam Malik 6-3, 6-2 and reach the semifinals of the US$400,000 Malaysian Open men's tournament yesterday.
The Dutchman served and volleyed with confidence against the Malaysian champion to set up a semifinal clash with Australia's Todd Woodbridge, who won his quarter-final against India's Leander Paes 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
"I had some problems with my first serve in earlier matches but it is improving. If I keep improving I have a good chance of winning the title," Eltingh said after the match.
Malik was outclassed. "Eltingh served very well and was playing at a different level," he said.
Woodbridge took one hour 31 minutes to beat Paes, who was nursing a sore arm.
Andrei Olhovskiy of Russia and Alexander Mronz of Germany will contest the other semifinal following respective victories over Italy's Gianluca Pozzi and Japan's Shuzo Matsuoka.
In Basel, Switzerland, Davis Cup heroes Stefan Edberg and Yevgeny Kafelnikov crashed out of the S$800,000 Swiss Indoor event here on Thursday.
Four days after leading their countries into the Davis Cup final both players went down in three sets in second-round matches.
Sweden's second-seeded Edberg was beaten by experienced French left-hander Guy Forget 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, while third-seeded Kafelnikov of Russia went down 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-7 (4-7) to another French player Lionel Roux.
Edberg and Kafelnikov were not the only seeded players to fail to reach the quarter-finals.
Sixth-seeded Peruvian Jaime Yzaga lost to American Patrick McEnroe and eighth-seeded Cedric Pioline of France went out to Jared Palmer of the United States in straight-sets.
Top seed Michael Stich, who failed to win a match against the Russians in last weekend's Davis Cup semi-final in Germany, comfortably defeated Jonas Svensson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4.
In Leipzig, Germany, top seed Mary Pierce of France coasted into the semifinals of the $400,000 Leipzig women's Grand Prix tennis tournament with a straight-sets victory over Brenda Schultz of the Netherlands.
Pierce managed to neutralize the seventh seed's strong serve with her own powerful groundstrokes and won 6-3, 6-2.