Henman, Hewitt stay on course

Henman, Hewitt stay on course
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

Scottsdale, March 11: Fifth seed Tim Henman and sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt ousted fourth seed Nicolas Lapentti and third seed Marcelo Rios respectively to reach the semi-finals of the $ 375,000 ATP Tour tennis event here.

With the tournament's top two seeds already out -- No 1 Andre Agassi in a second-round defeat and No 2 Pete Sampras due to a back injury -- Henman and Hewitt on Friday took care of the next two players in line.

Aussie teenager Hewitt, now with the best mark in tennis this season at 18-1, defeated Rios when the Chilean retired because of leg cramps. Hewitt was leading 7-6 (7-5), 4-2 at the time.

Hewitt will face 20-year-old Spanish Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat compatriot Francesco Clavet 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, a day after Clavet had stunned Agassi.

Henman, 25, defeated Lapentti 6-3, 6-2. He has yet to drop a set in three matches, and he'll put that perfect mark to the test against Spain's Albert Costa.

The seventh seed from Lerida won through over compatriot Alex Corretja 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), one of the two all-Spanish contests of the day.

Easy for Seles

INDIAN WELLS: Former World No 1 Monica Seles of the United States began her bid for a second title in three events with a convincing straight-set triumph on Friday at the tennis masters series here.

Seles, the seventh seed and 1992 champion, needed just over an hour to dump Silvia Farina of Italy 6-1, 6-2 and advance to the third round.

Tenth seed Barbara Schett of Austria also was not threatened in her second-round match as she vanquished Kristina Brandi of the United States, 6-1, 6-2.

Number 15 Amanda Coetzer was not as fortunate, as former top-10 player Dominique van Roost of Belgium eliminated the diminutive South African, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

In unseeded second-round matchups, Australian teenager Jelena Dokic rallied past Silvija Talaja of Croatia 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, Tatiana Panova of Russia defeated Australia's Nicole Pratt 6-4, 6-4, and American lucky loser Meghann Shaughnessy struggled past Nathalie Dechy of France 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).