Top seed Lindsay Davenport had to save two match points against enterprising Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova before advancing to the quarterfinals of the Zurich Open on Thursday.
France’s second seed Amelie Mauresmo meanwhile was bundled out by qualifier Katarina Srebotnik.
Davenport was stretched by Hantuchova, eventually surviving 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to make the last eight. Her victory means she will replace Maria Sharapova as the world number one next Monday, marking the American’s 85th week at the top.
Mauresmo, who had not conceded a set to her Slovenian opponent in their three previous meetings, was beaten 6-2, 6-0 in just 54 minutes.
Davenport faced elimination in the second set, as Hantuchova led 5-4, 40-15. But she hit a winning volley on the first match point and Hantuchova made a forehand error on the second to give Davenport a reprieve.
Davenport then levelled at 5-5 when a disappointed Hantuchova hit a double-fault on break point, and the American held off two break points in the next game before another forehand error gave Davenport the set.
In the decider, the players exchanged early breaks before another double-fault gave Davenport a 4-2 lead. As Hantuchova’s shoulders slumped, Davenport broke once more at 5-2 to claim the match.
”I felt that I wasn’t even close, to be honest,” said Davenport.
”I didn’t feel I was hitting the ball cleanly and I thought she was playing well and serving well.
”But once it got to 5-5 obviously it’s a whole different match.
She became a little bit emotional when she didn’t win those match points and seemed really down even starting at 5-5, so I was just trying to take advantage of that.”
Srebotnik looked far more eager for battle against the lethargic French world number four, and broke in the opening game when Mauresmo netted a forehand.
Mauresmo then double-faulted the first point of the fifth game, eventually conceding the game when the enterprising Srebotnik fired a backhand volley at the net.
Mauresmo, who also claimed just two games in losing her opening match last week in Moscow, failed to raise her level and was unable to win a game in the second set.
”I’m really feeling the energy is down and it’s tough for me to keep going, and I’m thinking now about the rest of my season and what I’m going to do,” said Mauresmo, who is expected to play in Linz next week.
”There’s no fun for me, for the crowd. There’s no point for me, considering what happened last week and today, to keep going and pushing for no result.”
Srebotnik admitted she was also tired, but believed her victories in the qualifying competition and first round had helped her.
”The wins before today gave me a lot of confidence,” said Srebotnik after claiming the biggest win of her career.
”That was an advantage for me, but she’s still number four in the world and usually she can beat me with her not-so-good game.
”But I think today that I really played better than she did, because everything she tried I had an answer for. I just played aggressive and everything went in and I made her do more errors because I pushed her really hard.”
In other matches, recent Moscow finalist Francesca Schiavone continued her good form by upsetting fifth seed Nadia Petrova of Russia 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).
The Italian served for the match at 5-3 and held two match points at 6-5 before claiming the tiebreak.
Ana Ivanovic took just 51 minutes to overwhelm fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-1, and Flavia Pennetta of Italy beat Bulgarian teenager Sesil Karatantcheva 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. – Sapa-AFP