PHILADELPHIA, United States (AFP) - Venus Williams survived a third-set tiebreaker to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA Tour event here and keep her hopes of reaching the WTA Tour Championships alive.
Williams, the fifth seed, outlasted Yuliana Fedak of the Ukraine 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a second-round match at the 585,000-dollar indoor tournament here.
Six players already have qualified for next week's season'ending Tour Championships in Los Angeles, with four others - Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Vera Zvonareva - still in the running for the final two spots.
Venus Williams earned a quarter-final meeting with top seed and defending champion Amelie Mauresmo of France, who opened a bid for her fifth title of the year with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.
A 14-time winner on the WTA Tour, Mauresmo has won titles this year at Berlin, Rome, Montreal and Linz, Austria last week.
Mauresmo also won a silver medal at the Athens Olympics this summer, losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium in the final 6-3, 6-3.
French Open winner and No. 2 seed Anastasia Myskina of Russia also reached the quarter-finals by ousting qualifier Rossana Neffa-De Los Rios of Paraguay, 6-4, 7-6 (7/0), in their first career meeting.
Myskina, who lost here in last year's final to Mauresmo faces countrywoman Nadia Petrova in the round of eight.
The seventh-seeded Petrova eliminated American Amy Frazier 6-4, 6-3.
The most competitive match of the afternoon came when Russia's Zvonareva, the sixth seed, outlasted Nathalie Dechy of France for the fifth time in six meetings 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Eighth-seeded Alicia Molik of Australia beat Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro 7-5, 6-3. Molik will face Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova in the quarters.
11/05/2004 - 05:28 GMT - AFP