Former world number one Martina Hingis advanced to the semi-finals of the $1.34 million Rogers Cup on Friday, cruising past fourth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 6-3 in their quarter-final match.
Hingis, the champion in 1999 and 2000, thrilled a capacity crowd at Uniprix Stadium by wearing down her younger opponent in the second set after recording a key break in the 12th game of the first set to get to a tiebreaker.
The seventh-seeded Hingis then won the first set tie-breaker 7-4 and never looked back to earn a date in the semi-finals Saturday against Russian Anna Chakvetadze. "I definitely played one of my best matches so far this season," Hingis told reporters.
"Against Svetlana you have to or she'll kill you. I knew I had to step it up from the last two nights of play and I felt a lot looser, nothing really to lose now." Chakvetdze moved into the semis earlier with a 7-6 7-5 victory over Israeli Shahar Peer.
Earlier Friday Dinara Safina shrugged off worrying news of a car crash involving her brother Marat Safin to rout Australian Nicole Pratt 6-1 6-0 in their quarter-final match. The Russian took only 48 minutes to win her match after discovering Safin had sustained minor injuries in an accident in Cincinnati. "It's family," Safina told reporters. "If it was someone else maybe you would not care so much and you just forget about it but it's my brother.
"I was happy with how I played." Former world number one Safin suffered suspected mild concussion after his car was struck by another vehicle outside his hotel on Thursday, according to a statement on his website. Ninth seed Safina put aside the distraction to secure a meeting with Ana Ivanovic of Serbia & Montenegro, who put out Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik 6-4 6-4.
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