Venus Sets on Serena; Graf, Kournikova Head World Team Tennis Draft

In the Thursday semifinals the resurgent elder Williams sister will have her hands full with Serena's nemesis, No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova who weathered some drama of her own to defeat former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne in three sets.

Sharapova blew three match points in the second set of her eventual 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-2 win over the Belgian, in the third set appearing to come up lame with injury but recovering for the win.

"Yeah, my back has been sore for a little bit," Sharapova said. "But, you know, today there were a lot of long points and a lot of moving going on, so it was getting tighter as the match went on. I couldn't serve. When I landed, I felt it more on the serve while I was landing. But, you know, I got some treatment and I just try to forget about it."

Henin-Hardenne found herself down 1-6, 1-4 before going for more late in the second set, but tiring in the third in her first tournament back from injury in 2005.

"I think it's been great fight. I mean, it was good match," Henin-Hardenne said. "It's true that the beginning of the match -- it's long time I didn't play this level so I needed a little bit of time to get used to this rhythm and everything. She was playing great in the first but I wasn't aggressive enough. Then, yeah, I saved three match points, played unbelievable tennis at the end of the second set. In the third set, both of us were pretty tired. But what I did after seven months off, it's good."

On court Wednesday in Miami quarterfinal action are (1) Mauresmo vs. the 17-year-old unseeded Serb Ivanovic (Mauresmo leads career meetings 2-0), and (4) Dementieva vs. Clijsters (the Belgian leads 6-1).

Federer, Agassi Through to Quarterfinals at ATP Miami

Crowd favorites Andre Agassi and world No. 1 Roger Federer led the quarterfinal advance Tuesday at the Masters Series-Miami, with the No. 9-seeded Agassi winning a 7-6(7), 6-2 slugfest over No. 7 seed Gaston Gaudio, and Federer struggling through his second consecutive three-setter with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over No. 18 Mario Ancic.

"The first set was as hard a set as you'll ever have, about an hour and a half almost," said Agassi of the opening tiebreak set against the current French Open holder. "A match like that can just turn into a first-class battle, you know, I mean, all the way through from start to finish. Or if you take your right chances, you can maybe break a match like that open. Today, that's what happened."

Federer found himself struggling in the slow conditions, especially against the hot-handed return of serve of the Croatian nicknamed "Baby Goran."

"I'm definitely stronger mentally, you know, than in the past," Federer said about persevering yet again. "Yeah, so I just have the feeling I can rely on many strengths in my game which carry me through sometimes, even though maybe I'm not playing great. Like it happened especially tonight. I never really felt I got the rhythm, but still came through, you know."

No. 29 seed Rafael Nadal provided the biggest upset on the day, stopping one of the hottest players on tour on his favorite surface in No. 13 Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3.

"I played very aggressive," said the lefty Nadal, one of the few players on tour in no hurry to refine his English. "In thought it looks like Ljubicic is just holding the match with his serve, but in reality he plays good from the back of the court and puts a lot of pressure. So I had to stay aggressive and fight hard and I returned well. That was the key of the match."

No. 6 seed Tim Henman defeated No. 23 Radek Stepanek 7-5, 6-3 to earn a quarterfinal meeting with the off-kilter Federer.

"You know, what have I got to lose?" Henman said, laying down some, for the Brit, vicious smack talk. "I feel like I've beaten (Federer) on enough occasions in the past. I appreciate that, you know, he's beaten me the last couple of times, but there will be definitely a couple of things that I'll want to focus on from my point of view. If I do that, then I do feel like my style can unsettle him."

In fourth round lower-seed action, winners were (25) Thomas Johansson (d. (24) Novak), (26) Dominik Hrbaty (d. (WC) Monfils), and (31) Taylor Dent (d. Mayer).

"I played really well, that's why I won," said The Dominator on beating the French comer Monfils, who he put on the merry-go-round with his exacting baseline game. "I mean, he didn't make too many mistakes. Probably the only thing that I saw in the end of the match, that physically he was I think tired. His serve went down because he was running a lot."

In the only all-unseeded match-up, former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero choked a 4-1 lead in the third set against Spanish countryman Dave Ferrer, making an unceremonious 6-7(7), 6-3, 7-5 exit.

Up on Wednesday are the first two men's quarterfinals in Ferrer vs. (26) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (The Dominator has won both their career hardcourt meetings), and (25) Thomas "Tommy the J." Johansson vs. (29) Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (first meeting).

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Justine Henin-Hardenne on her upcoming schedule: "I think probably I'm going to play Charleston, Warsaw and Berlin. That's right now my schedule, but we have to see how it's gonna happen. That's what I want to play before the French Open. I hope I can get a lot of matches to get in confidence and find my game on claycourt. After my injury I practiced for three weeks on clay because it was better for my knee. I was feeling pretty good this surface, so I hope it's gonna be good."...Andre Agassi on the Williams sisters playing each other: "Well, to be quite honest, it's always been difficult for me to watch that. I think it's gotten easier sort of as they've gotten more experienced with doing it. I just couldn't imagine what it's like competing against a sibling. Certainly in the house and the home that I grew up in, it would have been an emotional drama to go through that. So to watch them have to face that has been, to me, a difficult thing to watch. It's just unfortunate to imagine you or your brother winning or losing, you know, especially when they've been competing for world titles. So I've never been comfortable watching it, to be quite honest." Join the club Andre...The first round of the World Team Tennis draft was Tuesday with players selected including Steffi Graf (Houston Wranglers), John McEnroe (New York Sportimes), Anna Kournikova (Sacramento Capitals), Boris Becker (Hartford FoxForce), Venus Williams (Delaware Smash), Martina Navratilova (Boston Lobsters), Maria Sharapova (Newport Beach Breakers), and Lindsay Davenport (Springfield Lasers). "I am excited to be a part of WTT's 30th season," said Graf. "I have great respect for what Billie Jean King has done for our sport and her vision of making tennis more fun and accessible to everyone." WTT runs from July 4-24, with the finals played Sept. 16-17...How about that Williams vs. Williams match, U.S. fans? Ooops, forgot, ESPN didn't show it Tuesday, even on the wasteland channels of ESPN Classic or ESPN U or ESPN Plus or ESPN 8, "The Ocho"...From TR.net: "While (Rafael) Nadal has yet to develop a world class serve and his backhand is still below the level of many members of the Top 10, he's in terrific shape, is super fast and has a tremendous forehand. Plus, he may own the most consistently devastating lefty forehand out there." And what do you think of his forehand?...The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Charlie "Brick" Bricker on Maria Sharpaova's 9-year-old cousin Daria: "Dasha for those who know her well, and she was a guest at the draw Monday for the Luxilon junior invitational tournament that begins today at the Nasdaq. She's much too young to be playing here, but a year from now, I was told by officials at the Evert Tennis Academy, where she trains, she'll probably be entered in the Orange Bowl juniors here at Crandon Park. And perhaps in the girls' 14s instead of the 12s. That's how much they expect her to progress in a year's time. The early scouting report on this Maria look-alike: excellent skills and exceptional poise, perhaps more poise than you've ever seen on court from a 9-year old."...Andre Agassi on his initial attraction to Steffi Graf, speaking to the Miami Herald: "The looks are something I always responded most to when I didn't know her...Hey, an honest question deserves honest answer. But then you notice the pillars in her life that are a testament to who a person is. The saying is so true: You are what you do. I've always respected how she goes about her work, business, relationships. Companies. Coaches. People she has been so loyal to. The people in her life. Then I basically stalked her. Then I got to know her. And it has been a joy since." His biggest embarrassment during his tennis career: "Probably my mullet. My hair. Sometimes it is better to not have any options anymore. Early on, I'm rather embarrassed about not understanding the world stage and that things you say and do in a casual sense get perceived in a grand sense and you can get boxed in. I've tried to make sure that everything I say and do now has some sort of reflection on who I am. It's a discipline."...The Australian team of Lleyton Hewitt and Wayne Arthurs have been handed the wildcard spot for the ATP World Team Cup the week before the French Open, joining the U.S. (Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi), Argentina (Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian), Spain (Carlos Moya, Tommy Robredo), Russia (Marat Safin, Mikhail Youzhny), defending champs Chile (Nicolas Massu, Fernando Gonzalez), Sweden (Joachim Johansson, Thomas Johansson) and Germany (Tommy Haas, Nicolas Kiefer).