Davenport v Kuznetsova in WTA Bali Semis

Kuznetsova, the top seed and a two-time former champion here, in 2002 and 2004, posted an easy 63 62 victory over No.8 seed Severine Bremond. The 56th-ranked Br˜Dnd was a giant-killer a few months ago at Wimbledon, taking down Schnyder, among others, during a surprising run to her first major quarterfinal. But a Friday upset was not to be, as Kuznetsova ran her season record against players ranked outside the Top 50 to 17-0 with the straight set victory.

"I was playing better today than in my first match, and getting more balls back," Kuznetsova said. "But, I was still trying to do too much with the ball. If I played simpler, I would have won easier. This is what I want to improve in my game, do more things but in important moments do them more simply. But I was pretty calm today. Even if I wasn't doing well I was staying in focus."

"I never really got into a good rhythm today," said Bremond, who was playing in her second quarterfinal since Wimbledon. "If I had a chance of winning today I needed to be playing a lot better. I was making too many errors and she had me under pressure all the time."

Davenport, the No.3 seed and defending champion, had an even easier time on Friday, brushing off No.132-ranked Czech Hana Sromova, 61 60. She came into the match having won 59 of her last 60 matches against non-Top 100 players, the only exception being a championship loss to an injury-returned Kim Clijsters at Indian Wells last season; other than that, her last loss to a player ranked outside the Top 100 came a week shy of 12 years ago.

"It was an interesting match today," Davenport said. "She doesn't give you a lot of rhythm, with some weird slices and pace off the ball, but I'm glad I handled the conditions well."

"I don't have too much experience playing against these top players, and today I was just too nervous to play my game," said Sromova, who was playing just her second Tour quarterfinal, her first coming earlier this year. "I was hitting so short; against someone like Lindsay, she's going to kill those balls."

Kuznetsova, now 11-0 here, and Davenport, 7-0, will clash for the fifth time. The Russian won their first meeting, 16 62 64, in the 2004 US Open semifinals; the American has won the last three in straight sets, including earlier this season at the Australian Open, but none of those have been by any means straightforward.

"It's going to the kind of high level match I'm wanting to play," said Kuznetsova. "I think it's going to be an interesting match. Definitely have to move her around. The key of her game is her serve. I'm looking forward to playing her."

"I'm looking forward to playing Svetlana," Davenport added. "I think it's a good match for the tournament, between two top players. We've had some interesting battles in the past, so I'll need to be on top of my game to win again tomorrow."

Schnyder, the No.2 seed this week, and Bartoli, seeded No.6, will have a rematch of their tight US Open encounter in the other semifinal. In the third round there, it was the Frenchwoman who came out on fire, winning the opening set at love. Schnyder moved up 3-1 in the second set before the rains came; two days later, the Swiss completed a 06 63 63 victory. On Friday, Schnyder routed Melinda Czink, 62 62, while Bartoli beat Russian teen Olga Poutchkova, 62 64.

"I felt I was hitting the ball well today," said Schnyder. "It's always interesting to play another lefty, but I served really well today and kept to my tactics."

"This has been a great week for me, and to be in the semifinals with Svetlana, Patty and Lindsday gives me a lot of confidence," Bartoli commented. "I'm just going to try my best against Patty tomorrow and see what happens."
-- WTA