Kafelnikov stays on course

Kafelnikov, seeded second, overcame a false start to defeat Spadea 6-3, 7-5, keeping pace with French and US Open champion Andre Agassi in the fierce battle for the No 1 year-end ranking.

The 25-year-old Russian lost his opening serve, handing Spadea a 1-0 lead. But that was to mark the end of Spadea8217;s threat, with Kafelnikov breaking the American8217;s next two serves to jump ahead 3-1.

Spadea continued to fight until 5-5 in the second set when Kafelnikov snuffed out any hopes of an American comeback, breaking to seal the victory.

Kafelnikov, looking for a third title this season, is likely to meet little resistance in the 2nd round where he meets French qualifier Lionel Roux.

Rusedski avenged his loss to Santoro in Doha Qatar last year, defeating the Frenchman 7-6 7-3, 6-2 to advance to the 2nd round.

In other first round play, Hicham Arazi Morocco upset seventh-seeded Nicolas Lapentti Ecuador 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and Slovakia8217;s Dominik Hrbaty trounced Andrei Pavel Romania 6-0, 6-2

Berasategui prevails

PALERMO: Unseeded Alberto Berasategui out-dueled fellow-Spaniard Fernando Vicente, the No 6 seed in the 350,000 ATP Tournament 4-6, 7-6 9-7, 7-5, in a 2nd round marathoner that lasted nearly three hours here yesterday.

Also advancing to the quarter-finals in the clay-court event of the men8217;s tour was Argentina8217;s Hernan Gumy, who made quick work of fellow countryman Gaston Gaudio, 6-0, 6-1.

In a late eveing match, Markus Hipfl Austria defeated Italy8217;s Davide Sanguinetti 6-4, 6-2. The last match scheduled pitted Younes El Aynaoui and Karim Alami, two Moroccans.

Norman struggles

SHANGHAI: Swede Magnus Norman had to struggle through three sets at the 350,000 Shanghai Open today to dismiss a challenger hungry for victory after going winless for the first four months of 1999.

Norman, seeded second and holder of four titles this year, finally defeated Peter Wessels Netherlands 6-7 4-7, 7-5, 7-6 7-3 in two hours, 12 minutes here.

Wessels, ranked No 82, stands 12-12 for the season. He did not win a match until mid-April at Chennai, India, where he reached the semi-finals.

Norman stands level with Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the chase for titles after winning three on clay and one on hard courts. The Dutchman won the opening set and Norman had to go on an 10-point tear late in the second to stay in contention and force a third. That set also went to a tie-breaker, with Norman winning through on his first match point with a putaway to the corner.

The Swede next plays a fighting young Thai with a big-hitting style who has played far above his No 169 standing so far this week.

Paradorn Srichaphan brushed aside another Dutch player to reach his second quarter-final in a month.

The 20-year-old Thai No 1 knocked out John Van Lottum 6-3, 6-2, taking just 58 minutes to produce another career-best showing on the ATP Tour.

Fourth-seeded American Jan-Michael Gambill won through against Frenchman Anthony Dupuis 6-3, 6-4. Gambill will play either sixth seed Michael Chang, the defending champion, or up-and-coming Maxi Mirnyi Belarus.

Testud rallies

FILDERSTADT GERMANY: Defending champion Sandrine Testud staged a remarkable comeback to defeat US open champion Serena Williams 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 and reach the quarter-finals of the 520,000 Porsche WTA event here.

The Frenchwoman trailed 2-4 in the second set and 1-5 in the third, before rallying to win the last six games of the match against the No 3 seed.

There were no problems for the top two seeds, Martina Hingis Switzerland, and Lindsay Davenport US, both easing into the quarter-finals with easy 2nd round victories.

Davenport needed only 43 minutes to overwhelm Italian qualifier Silvia Farina 6-0, 6-1, while Hingis took just six minutes longer to defeat American Jennifer Capriati 6-4, 6-0.

Mary Pierce France was another 2nd round winner, although the No 4 seed needed almost two and a half hours to battle past Natasha Zvereva Belarus 7-6 7-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Williams dominated the opening set against Testud, and looked poised for a comfortable victory when she broke twice to lead 3-0 in the second.

As 27-year-old Testud began to raise her level, errors crept into her 18-year-old opponent8217;s game, and the Frenchwoman won four games in a row to level the match.

The American again broke twice to lead 5-1 in the final set, only to lapse into error and allow her opponent to claim an unlikely victory.