Agassi Pulls From Aussie Open; Nadal, Safin, Sharapova Iffy

Up next for the former No. 1-ranked Swiss is another creampuff in Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives, who the Swiss has never faced.

"I know she's a little girl so she's not going to overpower me," Hingis said of Llagostera Vives. "I don't think she really has a big weapon but neither does she have a weakness."

Other winners Wednesday were defending champ and top seed Patty Schnyder (d. (Q) Haynes, bagel in the second), Hingis' Gold Coast doubles partner (5) Tatiana Golovin (d. Bammer), and Llagostera Vives who ousted (2) Francesca Schiavone in straight sets.

Lining up Thursday are Safina vs. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues, Hingis vs. Nuria Llagostera "Pancho" Vives, Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin vs. Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta, and Schnyder vs. Safarova.

Petrova Rolls, Two Seeds Ousted at WTA Auckland

Top-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova navigated the windy conditions Wednesday at the WTA stop in Auckland, rolling past countrywoman Vera Dushevina 6-3, 6-0 to a claim a spot in the quarterfinals.

"I didn't expect it to be so easy today because Vera is a consistent hitter but it seems today she couldn't cope with the wind," Petrova said.

Other seeded winners advancing were (2) Daniela Hantuchova (d. Craybas), (4) Maria Kirilenko (d. (WC) Azarenka in three), (6) Marion Bartoli (d. Granville from a set down), and (8) Vera Zvonareva (d. Cho 6-1 in the third).

Three un-seeds also moved into the quarters in Puerto Rico's Kristina Brandi (d. Sanchez Lorenzo), Israeli qualifier Tzipora Obziler (d. defending champ (5) Srebotnik), and German Julia Schruff (d. (3) Likhovtseva).

On tap for Thursday in the Auckland quarters are Obziler vs. Hantuchova, Zvonareva vs. Kirilenko in an all-Russian, Schruff vs. Bartoli, and Petrova vs. Brandi.

Federer Edges Magician at ATP Doha

While it was far from easy, world No. 1 Roger Federer scored his seventh consecutive win over his pre-No. 1-days nemesis Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro Wednesday at the ATP stop in Doha, edging the Frenchman 7-6(2), 7-6(5) to advance into the semifinals.

"The last thing I want to do is get frustrated and I never do," Federer said. "Maybe I used to when I wasn't up to it, but now I have proved myself so much that there is never a sense of frustration against anyone, no matter how big their serve, how good they are the net, or how good they are at mixing up their games, so that is a big advantage to have in my game."

Other seeded winners were (2) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Vik) and (7) Gael Monfils (d. Moodie), while (8) Feliciano Lopez fell to Marcos Baghdatis in three sets.

Tommy Haas ended Tim Henman's winning ways in straight sets, joined by fellow unseeded sratight-set winners Dmitry Tursunov (d. (WC) El Aynaoui) of Russia, countryman Mikhail Youzhny (d. Sanguinetti), and Filippo Volandri (d. (Q) Starace) winning an all-Italian showdown.

"I wasn't serving well while Tommy got his act together," Henman told BBC Online. "You know how important the serves are in tennis, and I'm going to work on mine."

Thursday's quarterfinal match-ups in Doha are Haas vs. Youzhny, (1) Federer vs. Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis, (7) Gael "Force" Monfils vs. Tursunov, and Volandri vs. (2) Davydenko.

Seeds Robredo, Ancic, Blake Exit ATP Adelaide

Three seeds made shocking exits Wednesday at the ATP stop in Adelaide, with unheralded Frenchman Florent Serra outlasting No. 3 Tommy Robredo in three sets, Belgian Xavier Malisse saving three match points to edge No. 4 Mario Ancic in a third-set tiebreak, and Italian Andreas Seppi stunning No. 5 James Blake 6-4 in the third.

"It was a very good victory for me," Serra said after outlasting Robredo. "I was very happy to play a player in the Top 20, a player like Tommy on center court. I'm very happy to be here and happy with my game. My backhand and forehand from the baseline felt good."

Also into the quarters was No. 7 seed Jarkko Nieminen, edging German Florian Mayer 7-6(1), 7-5.

Jockeying for position Thursday will be Murray vs. (6) Berdych, (WC) Mark "The Scud" Philippoussis vs. (2) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, "Dr." Ivo Karlovic vs. Carlsen, and (1) Hewitt vs. Kohlschreiber.

Three Seeds Stage Fightbacks at ATP Chennai

All three seeds in action Wednesday at the ATP stop in Chennai pulled escape acts, giving spectators their money's worth in coming back from one-set deficits to advance into the quarterfinals.

Winners in comeback bids were (2) Radek Stepanek (d. (WC) P.Amritraj, bagel in the second, 6-4 in the third), two-time defending champ (3) Carlos Moya (d. Gimelstob 6-4 in the third), and (7) Bjorn Phau (d. countryman (Q) Berrer 6-4 in the third).

Frenchman Thierry Ascione stamped the lone upset on the day, dropping five games in a defeat of (8) Tomas Behrend to gain the quarterfinals.

On court Thursday in Chennai are (1) Ljubicic vs. Vanek, (Q) Bopanna vs. (5) Muller, (4) Srichaphan vs. (Q) Gicquel, and Vliegen vs. (6) Schuettler.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Andre Agassi has pulled from the Australian Open with his ongoing ankle injury: "Unfortunately, even with the amount of training and rehabilitation I've done, my ankle is still not 100 percent. I'm disappointed, but I plan to return as soon as it is recovered. I attempted to play in Shanghai (Masters Cup) with an injury that was not fully healed, and it set me back substantially. I made a commitment to myself not to play unless I can be at my absolute best."...Kim Clijsters says she still plans to hang it up in 2007: "All the amount of time and the exercise, and the effort I have to put into being able to feel like I'm feeling at the moment and to not have injuries, it's getting more and more. Every month, I have to improve and I have to add something. I'm going to try to do it for two more years, try to give myself 100 percent and then we'll see where it goes. When I get older and if I have kids one day, I would like to be able to still play and have fun with them without having to worry about having a bad knee. I want to think about the future, too. For me, tennis is important but it's not the most important thing in my life."...Roger Federer has won his first tournament of the season in three of the last four years. Federer is also poised to move into third position for the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the ATP Rankings when he surpasses Pete Sampras's 102-week streak at the beginning of the Australian Open on Jan. 16...30-year-old Lindsay Davenport says the Hong Kong exhibition will be her only appearance prior to the Australian Open: "For me, at this age, I just felt that I'm going to play where I choose to play."...Martina Hingis on Maria Sharapova: "It's always been, 'I wonder what she's got, Sharapova?' because I don't see that she's got something that special. Her serve is great, her groundstrokes, but I can't tell until I play her what makes her so exceptional. Or do you know? Can you tell? What's so exceptional about her?"...Sania Mirza on religion and sports: "I think everyone mixes up religion and sport. I'm a sports person and religion is something very personal. Yes, I'm a practising Muslim but I don't understand why only I'm asked about my religion. Everyone's got a religion out there, I wonder why no one else is asked about it. I feel it's a very personal thing. It's my personal choice and I don't feel the need to justify it to anyone."...Rafael Nadal has officially pulled from Sydney next week while healing from a foot fracture, and is now iffy for the Aussie Open: "I am very, very sorry that I cannot play in Sydney because I was looking forward to coming there for the first time. The tournament is very strong and it would have been exciting to play there. I hope very much I will play in Sydney next year."...Marat Safin is looking all the more unlikely to be healthy (knee) for the Australian Open, while Maria Sharapova is now iffy after traveling back to the U.S. for therapy on her shoulder.