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Posted at 6:41 a.m., Thursday, January 3, 2008

Tennis: Mauresmo loses in Australian hardcourt event

Associated Press

GOLD COAST, Australia — Amelie Mauresmo, top-seeded Nicole Vaidisova and defending champion Dinara Safina were among the big-name losers in today's quarterfinals of the Australian women's hardcourts.

Mauresmo — formerly the world's top-ranked player — was beaten by fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder, with the Swiss winning 6-4 6-4 after leading 5-0 in the first set.

"I made it pretty hard on myself losing those first five games," said Mauresmo, the 2006 Australian Open champion. "Too many mistakes, especially in that first set."

Schnyder will meet China's Li Na in Friday's semifinals. Li made it two-for-two in career matches against Vaidisova, beating the Czech player 6-3, 6-3 .

Li beat Vaidisova in three sets in the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2006 in their only previous meeting.

Vaidisova was troubled by an ankle injury Thursday, but refused to use that as an excuse for losing. She needed a medical timeout after feeling pain in her left ankle when trailing 5-3 in the first set. Li was dominating the match up to that point.

"I don't think it's going to be something huge, but it just distracts you," Vaidisova said. "She played a great game and she was up before that happened so it's definitely not my excuse for losing today."

Shahar Peer of Israel beat Safina of Russia 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8) in a 2½-hour match. Peer lost to Safina in the semifinal last year at Royal Pines, when she led 6-4, 5-1 before fading badly following a rain delay.

"It's been a year since I played her," said Peer, who saved seven of 10 break points on the way to beating Safina for the first time in four attempts. "You can call it revenge but not really."

The 20-year-old Peer will meet Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals. Azarenka, of Belarus, defeated Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Safina, sister of former men's No. 1 Marat Safin, said she needed to change her mindset to break into the top 10.

"It's disappointing because in the first set I was 4-1 up and somehow I let her come back into the match because I was dominating from the beginning," said Safina, who has won five WTA titles.

"Then I started to slow down my game instead of worrying about my shots. Second set I wasn't there."