Safin and Haas eliminated, but Kafelnikov moves on

Agencies, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The President's Cup lost its top two seeds on Thursday with the withdrawal of second seed Tommy Haas while defending champion Marat Safin was bundled out by Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan.

But Safin's Russian Davis Cup teammate and third seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov saved the day for the tournament organizers by beating unseeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-2.

"Honestly speaking, I was a bit fortunate to win today as I had a few lucky bounces on key points, especially in the first set," Kafelnikov said afterwards.

Haas, ranked number two in the world, retired from his quarterfinals match against Belarussian qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov with an elbow injury while trailing 6-2 2-1.

Meanwhile, two-time Tashkent champion Safin, who was stretched to the limit by Slovakian teenager Karol Beck in the previous round, lost to Paradorn 6-3 7-6.

"I just tried to hold my serve and play solid from the baseline," said Paradorn, who lost to Safin earlier this year at Indian Wells. "It (Indian Wells) was a close match and I just wanted to correct some of the mistakes that cost me the win then."

The fifth-seeded Thai broke the former world number one in the second game to take the opening set in just 26 minutes.

After both players held their serve throughout the second set, Paradorn finished off Safin on his first opportunity in the tiebreak with a crisp forehand down the line.

In Salvador, Brazil, sixth seed Gustavo Kuerten, aiming to reach his first ATP final since August 2001 in Cincinnati, marched into the last eight of the Brazil Open with a 6-0 7-5 win over American Mashiska Washington on Thursday.

Eighth seed Brazilian Andre Sa overcame George Bastl of Switzerland 6-1, 7-5, while Paraguayan Ramon Delgado eliminated fourth seed Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina 6-2, 7-5.

Defending champion Monica Seles destroyed Slovenia's Henrieta Nagyova 6-0, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the women's event.

Top seed Jelena Dokic had a tough time defeating unseeded South African Amanda Coetzer 6-2 5-7 6-4.

In Shanghai, China, Russia's Anna Kournikova moved one step closer on Friday to winning her first WTA singles title, defeating Croatia's Jelena Kostanic 7-5, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Shanghai Open.

The fourth-seeded Kournikova will meet second seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan on Saturday. The 26-year-old Sugiyama defeated fifth- seeded Adriana Serra Zanetti of Italy 6-1, 6-3 on Friday.

If Kournikova makes it past Sugiyama, she could find herself up against top seed Anna Smashnova of Israel in the final.

Smashnova beat a lackluster Miho Saeki of Japan 6-4, 6-2 on Friday to advance to the semifinals. The Israeli will face the winner of Friday's evening match between third seed Clarisa Fernandez of Argentina and seventh seed Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia.

In Bucharest, Romanian top seed Andrei Pavel battled back to beat Spaniard Albert Portas 4-6 6-4 6-2 on Thursday to reach the Romanian Open quarterfinals.

In Waikoloa, Hawaii, second seed Lisa Raymond beat Ashley Harkleroad 6-3, 7-6 (7) on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Big Island Championships.

Raymond will face seventh-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain, who led Sarah Taylor 6-1, 2-0 when Taylor retired because of a sprained left foot.