STOCKHOLM, NOV 7: Greg Rusedski beat Lionel Roux of France 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) to reach the quarterfinals at the Stockholm Open after spending two days in bed with a stomach virus.The Canadian-born Briton fired eight straight aces in his first two service games yesterday. It was the most awesome display of serving at the Royal Tennis Hall since Steve Denton of the United States hit 16 consecutive aces in a doubles match in 1982.Jonas Bjorkman also advanced to the quarterfinals, beating fellow Swede Thomas Johansson 6-4, 7-5.Four times tournament champion Boris Becker bowed out in the second round yesterday, falling to the persistent Dutchman Jan Siemerink 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.Novotna in last eightCHICAGO: Defending champion Jana Novotna dropped the first set, then won 11 of 14 games to beat Amy Frazier 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 and advance to the Ameritech Cup quarterfinals.Serena Williams, the 16-year-old sister of Venus Williams, upset fifth-seeded Mary Pierce of France, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in their second-round match.Novotna faces Nathalie Tauziat in Friday's quarterfinals of the $450,000 tournament. Tauziat of France advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Belgium's Sabine Applemans.Also advancing to the quarterfinals were Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia, who beat seventh-seeded Brenda Shultz-McCarthy of the Netherlands 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and American Lisa Raymond, who beat Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-2.Korda, Black advanceMOSCOW: Second-seeded Petr Korda of the Czech Republic beat Alex O'Brien of the United States in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of the $1,125,00 Kremlin Cup.He will face Wayne Black of Zimbabwe, who crushed Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2 in another quarterfinal match.Korda, who defeated O'Brien 7-5, 6-3, hit the ground in the eighth game of the second set to avoid a powerful overhead smash. He sat up looking pale and crossed himself.``If the ball would have hit me, I would have probably had a lot of stars in my head because the ball was coming in an extremely fast speed,'' the Czech player said in English. ``I was a little bit lucky. I fell down. Otherwise I think I would have had a straight hit in my forehead,'' said Korda.
