Mauresmo outlasts Serena

Amelie Mauresmo showed grit, fearlessness and poise to stage a dramatic final-set recovery and defeat long-time nemesis Serena Williams in fourth-round action at the US Open on Monday.

World number one Mauresmo knocked out the unseeded two-times former champion Williams 6-4 0-6 6-2 to set up a quarter-final match against Russian Dinara Safina.

The Australian Open and Wimbledon champion entered the match with a 1-9 record against Williams and has had a long history of wilting under pressure, but she recovered from a second-set disaster in a big way.

"I just tried to leave it behind me," Mauresmo said of the second set. "Maybe in these situations before I would have acted differently in the third set."

Mauresmo won the opening set by getting 61 per cent of her first serves in and keeping Williams off-balance with crisp groundstrokes and timely volleys.

But the Frenchwoman's serve deserted her in the second, giving Williams an opening to recover. With Mauresmo's first-serve percentage falling to 44 in the second set, Williams stormed back to force a decider.

Mauresmo began serving well again in the final set and broke Williams in the sixth and eighth games before clinching the 96-minute victory with an angled backhand drop volley.

"I got down an early break and just fell apart after that," lamented Williams.

There were no major upsets on Monday, although 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded sixth, was sent packing by Serbian 19th seed Jelena Jankovic 6-7 6-3 6-2 in fourth-round action.

Second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne, seeking her second US Open crown, breezed past Israel's Shahar Peer 6-1 6-0 in just 50 minutes, while number three Maria Sharapova and number four Elena Dementieva booked spots in the last eight with straight-sets victories.

Former Open champion and 10th seed Lindsay Davenport blasted 35 winners to oust Patty Schnyder 6-4 6-4 in her fourth-round match.

On the men's side, just one day after sending the great Andre Agassi into retirement, 112th ranked Benjamin Becker of Germany committed 39 unforced errors and was eliminated 6-3 6-4 6-3 by ninth seed Andy Roddick.

Second seed Rafael Nadal reached the quarters for the first time by blasting 46 winners to sweep past Czech Jiri Novak 6-1 7-6 6-4 in a two-hour and 10-minute match.

Nadal is quietly working his way through the draw having lost just one set in his first four matches.

While Nadal is almost unbeatable on the slow red clay of Roland Garros, Novak believes the Spaniard could walk away with his first title on the hardcourts at Flushing Meadows.

"His game is excellent, on the hardcourt as well," said Novak. "He's won so many tournaments on the hardcourt already. He can beat any player in the world.

"He's improved a lot on the fast court. Did you see Wimbledon where he reached the final on the grass court? Nobody expected it but he did it."

Jankovic defeats Dementieva to gain semi-final berth

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic exploited Elena Dementieva's weak serve to upset the fourth seed 6-2 6-1 yesterday and advance to the semi-finals of the US Open.

Jankovic broke the Russian in all seven of Dementieva's service games to register a third straight win over a top 10 opponent.

The 19th seed will now play either French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne or Lindsay Davenport in the last four.

Dementieva had more winners than Jankovic, 16-6, but also had five double faults and no aces in the 62-minute match.

The Russian also had 39 unforced errors compared to 16 for Jankovic, who had never reached a grand slam quarter-final before this week.

Jankovic lost to Dementieva, a former US Open finalist, in the Los Angeles Open final last month.