Keurten outplays Ljubicic to enter last 8

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Sydney: French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, gaining confidence with every match, slugged his way past Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 on Saturday to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympic tennis tournament.

Kuerten fell out of the US Open in the first round but is finding his top form in Sydney. The world number three closed his third-round match with a flourish, serving three aces in the last game, including a sizzler on the final point.

"I think I made maybe one mistake during the whole match," said the rail-thin Brazilian, popularly known as Guga. "After I got the first set I really didn't give any chance to him. So I thought I played my best set of the tournament in the last set, and the way I finished was pretty. I'm looking forward to the next round."

Kuerten was joined in the quarter-finals by eighth-seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero, who was nearly flawless himself in beating Canada's Daniel Nestor 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 score.

Ferrero won the last three points of his tie-breaker to claim the first set by 7-4 and then stormed to victory. Incredibly, the Spaniard was charged with only three unforced errors against the big-serving Canadian, who ousted Australian favourite Patrick Rafter in the second round.

"I think I won the match because I didn't make mistakes today with my forehand and with my backhand and with my serve," said Ferrero about his irresistible formula.

The Spaniard said being consistent with his groundstrokes was crucial because of the difficulty of Nestor's serve. "I think he is one of the top five servers in the world," said Ferrero. "It's difficult because he serves so good and he is lefthanded and the spin is so different."

Kuerten will meet the winner of Saturday's featured night match between fifth-seeded Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov and 11th-seeded Australian Mark Philippoussis.

Ferrero next plays the winner of the third-round match between third seed Magnus Norman of Sweden and France's Arnaud Di Pasquale.

On the women's side, Australia's Jelena Dokic overcame a set point in the first set and a 5-1 deficit in the second set to defeat Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 and claim a berth in the quarter-finals.

De los Rios, who advanced to the third round after top-seeded 1996 Olympic champion Lindsay Davenport forfeited their second-round match because of injury, had set point against Dokic in the 10th game of the opening set but failed to convert.

The determined Paraguayan scored the first three points of the tiebreaker and led 4-2 before Wimbledon semifinalist Dokic roared back to run off five of the next six points and win the set.

Tenth seed Elena Dementieva of Russia and 12th-seeded Austrian Barbara Schett set up a quarter-finals clash with third-round victories. Dementieva crushed Karina Habsudova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-1, and Schett overcame France's Julie Halard-Decugis 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.



(c) Reuters Limited.