Mauresmo advances to quarters

Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo beat Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals at the Diamond Games.

Mauresmo, who had a first-round bye, won her 12th successive match yesterday, including her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open then the Open Gaz de France last weekend.

The second-seeded Frenchwoman will face sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder today. Mauresmo holds an 11-5 record against the Swiss player, who received a walkover into the quarters when Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic sprained her wrist on Wednesday.

Ukrainian qualifier Olga Savchuk, who finished her first-round match by 1 am, came out less than 12 hours later and upset ninth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 6-3, who looked like the tired one.

Savchuk achieved her career-best win by breaking the Slovakian five times. Hantuchova also committed 36 unforced errors to 15.

Fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva defeated Poland's Marta Domachowska 6-3 7-6 (5) despite 13 double faults by the Russian. Domachowska gifted 48 unforced errors in a second-round match strewn with seven breaks.

Dementieva will play Greek lucky loser Eleni Daniilidou, who replaced the injured Mary Pierce in the draw, and top-ranked Kim Clijsters meets Dinara Safina of Russia.