By John Bagratuni Oct 6, 2006, 18:53 GMT
Stuttgart, Germany - In-form Svetlana Kuznetsova took another step towards a third title in a row on Friday when she hammered Jelena Jankovic, 6-4, 6-1, for a place in the semi-finals of the 650,000-dollar Porsche Grand Prix.
The second-seeded Russian Kuznetsova cruised to victory in 66 minutes and with it avenged her defeat against the Serbian in the US Open round of 16 last month.
Kuznetsova, who won the New York Grand Slam in 2004, has been on fire recently and came to Stuttgart with titles in Bali and Beijing, the latter over world number 1 Amelie Mauresmo almost two weeks ago.
'I put myself under a lot of pressure because of the US Open defeat against her. I was a bit stiff at first. But it probably helped that I didn't play yesterday,' said the Russian.
Jankovic never really stood a chance as she did not finish her second-round match marred by cramps until almost 1 a.m. Friday morning and had to play Kuznetsova - who had no match Thursday - just 13 hours later.
Russian 3 seed Elena Dementieva fared even worse. She also suffered from cramps during her three-hour win over Katerina Srebotnik on Wednesday which forced her to withdraw Friday with thigh muscle problems in her left leg ahead of the scheduled match with Swiss 5 seed Patty Schnyder.
'I am still sore from the last match where I had those cramps. It is bad luck for the tournament,' said Dementieva.
It was the latest blow for the event as world number 1 Amelie Mauresmo withdrew Thursday with a shoulder strain, 7 seed Francesca Schiavone suffered a wrist injury which forced her to quit during her first-round match and Jankovic was not fully fit Friday.
In addition, stars like French Open winner Justine Henin-Hardenne, two-time winners Kim Clijsters and Lindsey Davenport, and US Open champion Maria Sharapova did not come to Stuttgart.
In the semi-finals Saturday, Kuznetsova plays third-seeded compatriot Nadia Petrova, who came back from 3-1 down in the second set to beat the 2002 finalist Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour 14 minutes.
In the second semi, Schnyder meets Tatiana Golovin of France, who dominated a battle of teenagers against 17-year-old Dutch Michaella Krajicek, 6-1, 6-2, in 68 minutes. Golovin won the first five and the last five games of the match.
World number 25 Golovin, 18, is yet to win a career title, but impressed recently with a place in the US Open quarter-finals and also made the Miami semi-finals earlier in the year.
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