Santoro falls to Kafelnikov jinx

Yevgeny Kafelnikov continued his dominance over the Frenchman Fabrice Santoro by cruising through to the semi-finals of the St Petersburg Open semi-finals in Russia 6-1, 6-4.

"He is a very convenient opponent for me," said the Russian, who has won each of his six matches against Santoro. "I know his game well, and I can adjust to whatever he does."

Kafelnikov said he had felt fit enough to defeat Santoro despite a three-set thriller the previous day against compatriot Mikhail Youzhny, whom he finally beat yesterday morning.

"I slept eight hours last night and it was enough to get me through this match," he said. "I still don't feel 100 per cent but hopefully with some more rest I will be ready for tomorrow."

In today's semis Kafelnikov will meet another countryman Marat Safin, who beat the Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic in straight sets 6-3, 7-6.

In another quarter-final, Reiner Schuettler of Germany beat Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-5, 6-3. The unseeded Schuettler opened the tournament with an unexpected win over top seed, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.

In Vienna, defending champion Lindsay Davenport survived a hard second set to beat French sixth seed Sandrine Testud 6-1 7-6 and secure her place in the semi-finals of the Linz WTA tournament. The 25-year-old American came to Austria fresh from success in last week's Swisscom Challenge, which she won for the third time.

Amanda Coetzer of South Africa battled into the semi-finals of the Luxembourg Open, beating Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 7-6, 7-6.

The Slovenian qualifier Tina Pisnik also won through to today's semi-finals with a 7-6 7-6 win over Meilin Tu of the US. Coetzer, 30 last week, fought back in a two-hour tussle.