Six Russians in WTA Moscow Quarterfinals

The Kremlin Cup lost its No. 2 seed Thursday when former No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo failed to find the gear shift against unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone, finding herself on the business end of a 6-1, 6-1 beating.

"Today it was one of these days when everything goes wrong," Mauresmo said. "Nothing I did today worked right. The surface here is slightly sticky and slow so I felt strange especially after the very fast courts at Filderstadt. I had a bye and she had more practice here but it's not an excuse for my poor performance today."

Seeds advancing into the quarterfinals were (4) Elena Dementieva (d. (Q) Karatantcheva 0-and-0), (6) Anastasia Myskina (d. Peschke in three after a first-set bagel), and (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Russian countrywoman Zvonareva in three).

Also advancing on the Russian front was unseeded Dinara Safina, who struggled back from an opening-set loss to bypass Aussie qualifier Sam Stosur 6-4 in the third.

On court Friday are (3) Pierce vs. Likhovtseva, (1) Sharapova vs. Safina and (6) Myskina vs. (4) Dementieva in tantalizing all-Russian affairs, and (8) Kuznetsova vs. Schiavone.