WASHINGTON, 21 August 2004 — Five-time champ Andre Agassi beat Kristian Pless 6-4, 6-2 to win his eighth consecutive match and book a place in the quarterfinals of the $500,000 Washington Open. The crowd-pleasing American veteran was to face Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, who overcame Adrian Garcia of Chile 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Agassi fired over seven aces in the 32-minute opening set, earning an early break and capitalized on his momentum to dominate in the second for the popular victory.
Michel Kratochvil picked up the pace after a frustrating run of injuries, reaching his second quarterfinal of the season with a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) upset of eighth seed Dimitry Tursunov.
Kratochvil will play Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, who finished off a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 victory over American Jan-Michael Gambill with a 23rd ace.
Davenport Reaches Quarterfinals of Cincinnati Open
Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport rallied to defeat fellow American Lilia Osterloh, advancing to the quarterfinals of the $170,000 Cincinnati Open.
Davenport extended her winning streak to 15 matches with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win.
Davenport, who elected not to take part in the Athens Olympics, captured three consecutives tournaments in three weeks this year and is 46-6 overall in 2004. She won the gold in 1996 in Atlanta. Davenport moves on to play Italy’s Flavia Pennetta who beat countrywoman Rita Grande. Pennetta reached the quarters by beating Grande 6-7 (1-7), 6-2, 6-4.
Russian Vera Zvonareva of Russia also advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti. Second seeded Zvonareva’s opponent will be Chinese qualifier Peng Shuai, who upset Russian Alkina Jidkova 7-5, 4-6, 6-1. Unseeded Laura Granville, of the US, also secured a spot in the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 upset of fifth-seeded Denisa Chldkova of the Czech Republic.
