PARIS, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Fourth-seeded Australian Jelena Dokic and
fifth-seeded American Monica Seles cruised to the quarterfinals
at the $585,000 Open Gaz de France tennis event Thursday.
Dokic, ranked No. 9 in the world, had little trouble with
Cristina Torrens Valero of Spain, posting a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
The 18-year-old Dokic is playing in just her second tournament
this year after losing in the second round at the Toray Pan
Pacific Open in Tokyo last week.
Seles, who lost in the final at the Toray Pan Pacific to Martina
Hingis, defeated Italian Adriana Serra-Zanetti, 7-5, 6-2 on
Thursday. Seles is playing in this event for the first time
since 1993 when she lost to Martina Navratilova in the final.
Second-seeded Justine Henin had a much more difficult time
Thursday, but got past Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6
(10-8). Henin had posted straight-sets wins over Dechy in their
previous two encounters.
Also in the second round Thursday, Russian Elena Dementieva got
past Germany's Greta Arn, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 and Francesa Schiavone
of Italy defeated Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, 6-2, 7-5.
Schiavone will face defending champion Amelie Mauresmo of France
in the quarterfinals. Mauresmo earned a bye into the second
round, where she defeated Russian Anna Kournikova, 6-3, 7-5 on
Wednesday.
Top seed Venus Williams of the United State, who took last week
off after losing to Seles in the quarterfinals of the Australian
Open, cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over fellow American Meilen
Tu in a second-round match Wednesday.
