Tennis: Kempes blasted aside by Rusedski

GREG RUSEDSKI raced to a 6-1, 6-4 second0round win over the Dutch wildcard Edwin Kempes in the ABN/AMRO world indoor tournament yesterday. The British No 2, who beat Nicolas Kiefer on Wednesday, had no trouble sweeping past Kempes in just 51 minutes.

Rusedski cruised through the opening set, breaking Kempes's serve in the second and fourth games as he took a 5-0 lead. Kempes held his third serve before Rusedski served out to take the set 6-1.

Rusedski secured a third break of serve in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 lead and that proved to be enough. The next seven games went with serve as Rusedski wrapped up a comfortable victory that featured 12 aces.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the No 2 seed here, met little resistance from Morocco's Hicham Arazi and stormed through 6-1, 6-2. The Australian Open champion's next hurdle is the Swiss world youth champion Roger Federer in the quarter- finals.

In another afternoon session second-round match in the Ahoy arena, the South African Wayne Ferreira overcame Jerome Golmard of France, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). The 19-year-old Russian Marat Safin continued his impressive progress with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-3 victory over the Slovakian, Dominik Hrbaty.

In Hanover, the local favourite Steffi Graf crushed the Austrian Barbara Schett 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Faber Grand Prix.

But holder Patty Schnyder, the No 4 seed, tumbled out in the second round of the $500,000 event, losing in straights sets to the unseeded Russian Elena Lichovtseva. The Swiss was well below her best and eventually double- faulted on match-point, handing Lichovtseva a 7-5, 6-3 win.

Schett, ranked No 19 in the world, broke Graf in the opening game of their third round match but was then outplayed by the former world No 1.

Graf, now seventh in the WTA rankings and seeded three, made her comeback in Hanover last year after eight months out of the game because of injury problems. She lost in the second round.

"I am satisfied with my form at the moment." said Graf. "I know that if I'm able to train well and everything goes my way I can be up there with the best." Schett agreed. "If she keeps on playing like that she will soon be making her way back to the top," she said.

Graf said she was ready to return to Germany's Fed Cup team who face Japan in Hamburg in April.

The qualifier Barbara Rittner reached the quarter-finals when her Italian opponent Silvia Farina withdrew because of illness after losing the first set. The German will meet either American Venus Williams, the second seed, or Japanese Ai Sugiyama. The winner of that match will face Graf in the semi-final tomorrow.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario said yesterday she will not help Spain defend their Fed Cup title because of a troublesome wrist injury. Sanchez-Vicario, who last year won the French Open and, with Conchita Martinez, led Spain to a fifth Fed Cup victory, will miss several other tournaments as she cuts down on her commitments.

"My decision is not to play the Fed Cup and to play in fewer tournaments this year. I've been in the sport for 14 years, 11 of those as a top five player, and I play more tournaments than anyone," the 27-year-old said.

In Memphis Jim Courier continued his comeback from an arm injury, upsetting No 4 seed Michael Chang in a second-round match at the Kroger St Jude indoor tournament.

Courier, a former No 1 currently ranked 69th in the world, eliminated Chang, a finalist in the tournament last year, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).

Results, page 27