By Etienne Stekelenburg
March 16 2005

Russians move on to the next round of the Pacific Life Open. Elena Dementieva defeated Tathiana Golovin of France after losing the first set. Maria Sharapova lost one set to Colombian Fabiola Zuluaga. Svetlana Kuznetsova won in straight sets beating Rika Fujiwara of Japan. Elena Dementieva will meet countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova in the next round, the re-match of the 2004 US Open final.

“It's very good to have this kind of competition between us,” Dementieva said. “I feel like I want to improve my game myself, because I want to be the best one.”

Maria Sharapova had problems winning her match against Colombian Zuluaga. “It was a big battle out there,” said Sharapova.

“I basically committed suicide when I had those four match points, especially when I came into the net and stayed in the middle. When you're not playing your best tennis, those are the matches where you finish, win or lose.”

“But it's good to get through them, because I feel whenever I don't play that well, then the next day I come out and I do better and better.”

The Russian youngster will now meet Mary Pierce of France who defeated Nadia Petrova of Russia in straight sets 2 and 2.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Singles - Fourth Round
(5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (Q) Rika Fujiwara (JPN) 63 62
(4) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. (14) Tatiana Golovin (FRA) 26 64 64
(23) Conchita Martinez (ESP) d. (Q) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 75 63
Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (30) Evgenia Linetskaya (RUS) 62 61
(7) Nathalie Dechy (FRA) d. (WC) Jessica Kirkland (USA) 75 62
(3) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (19) Fabiola Zuluaga (COL) 46 62 75
(20) Mary Pierce (FRA) d. (6) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 62 62
(1) Lindsay Davenport (USA) d. (WC) Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR) 61 64

Doubles - Quarterfinals
(4) Raymond/Stubbs (USA/AUS) d. (7) Bartoli/Groenefeld (FRA/GER) 63 60

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Stadium 1 (from 10.00hrs)
1. ATP: Nalbandian vs. Kiefer
2. Kuznetsova vs. Dementieva (NB 12.00hrs)
3. ATP: Gonzalez vs. Roddick
4. ATP: Coria vs. Agassi
5. Martinez vs. Clijsters (NB 19.00hrs)
6. ATP: Federer vs. Berdych or Ljubicic (NB 20.30hrs)

Stadium 2 (from 10.00hrs)
1. ATP: Robredo vs. Henman
2. ATP: Moya vs. Santoro
3. ATP: Mathieu or Hernych vs. Hewitt
4. ATP: Safin or Dent vs. Canas
5. ATP: Cermak/Friedl vs. Bryan/Bryan

Stadium 3 (from 10.00hrs)
1. ATP: Knowles/Nestor vs. Grosjean/Monfils
2. ATP: Malisse/Rochus vs. Paes/Zimonjic
3. Garbin/Loit vs. Petrova/Shaughnessy (NB 13.00hrs)
4. Kirilenko/Salerni vs. Granville/Lee
5. ATP: Allegro/Kohlmann vs. Kerr/Oliver