Kuerten powers through in Brazil

Sixth seed Gustavo Kuerten, aiming to reach his first ATP final since August 2001 in Cincinnati, marched into the last eight of the Brazil Open with a 6-0, 7-5 win over American Mashiska Washington on Thursday.

The Brazilian, back at the tournament where his run of poor form began last year, took only 22 minutes to wrap up the first set against an opponent who is 475th in the entry rankings system.

But the second set was a different story as Washington put up some resistance and Kuerten, who underwent a hip operation earlier this year, missed a few easy shots.

Kuerten was broken as he served for the match at 5-4, broke back immediately and then had two match points saved before finally going through.

"The first set was incredible, everything I tried went in and it seemed that I couldn't make a mistake even if I wanted to," said Kuerten, who was beaten in the first round 12 months ago.

"In the second, I took a few risks I would not normally take and I let my concentration drop a bit."

ETLIS NEXT

Kuerten will face Gaston Etlis in Friday's quarter-finals after the unseeded Argentine beat Brazil's Fernando Meligeni 6-1, 7-6.

Meligeni, runner-up last year, admitted that he felt lethargic and could not get his game going.

In Thursday's other matches, eighth-seeded Brazilian Andre Sa overcame George Bastl of Switzerland 6-1 7-5 while Paraguayan Ramon Delgado surprisingly eliminated fourth seed Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina 6-2, 7-5.

Defending champion Monica Seles, aiming for her third WTA title this year after winning in Doha and Madrid, destroyed Slovenia's Henrieta Nagyova 6-0, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the women's event.

Seles, seeded two, will now face Eleni Daniilidou after the eighth-seeded Greek player came from behind to beat fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Top seed Jelena Dokic had a tough time defeating unseeded South African Amanda Coetzer 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

The Yugoslav quickly wrapped up the first set and was poised for an easy win when she led 5-3 in the second before Coetzer hit back to win the next four games and level the match.

Coetzer then opened up a 4-2 advantage in the deciding set but never recovered after double-faulting when she was serving for a 5-2 lead.

Dokic will now meet third-seeded Russian Anastasia Myskina, who brushed aside Slovenia's Maja Matevzic 7-5, 6-1.