Swiss-girl Hingis storms Moscow

In the men’s section, top seed and US Open champion Marat Safin crushed Wimbledon semifinalist Vladimir Voltchkov 7-6, 6-1 to reach his first Kremlin Cup semifinal. The 20-year-old, who had never taken a set off Voltchkov before, won the tie-break 7-5 before breezing through the second set in just 29 minutes, clinching the match with his 16th ace.

Safin now faces Germany’s David Prinosil, who outlasted Swede Jonas Bjorkman 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 in a near three-hour battle. If he beats the German on Saturday, Safin will overtake Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten at the top of the ATP Champions’ Race. In the second semifinal, second seed and defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who dispatched German qualifier Lars Burgsmuller 6-3, 6-2 in 55 minutes, plays former two-time Kremlin Cup champion Marc Rosset of Switzerland.

Enqvist beats Hrbaty
BASLE: Second-seeded Swede Thomas Enqvist had to work hard to beat Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the Swiss indoor championship quarter-finals on Friday, setting up a last-four showdown with Tim Henman. Henman, who ended a two-year title drought with his victory in Vienna two weeks ago, continued to enjoy a run of superb late season form, disposing of Morocco’s Hicham Arazi 6-3 6-3 to reach his third consecutive semifinal. But fellow Briton Greg Rusedski failed to join his Davis Cup teammate in the final four, falling 7-6, 6-2 to third-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt. The victory set the stage for an intriguing semifinal between two of the ATP Tour’s rising young players, with Hewitt taking on Roger Federer, who continued to delight local fans with a 6-4, 6-4 win over French qualifier Nicolas Thomann.

Seles in US Fed Cup team
WHITE PLAINS: Olympic bronze medalist Monica Seles was named for the US Fed Cup team for next month’s World Finals in Las Vegas, joining Lindsay Davenport. Seles has played Fed Cup for the United States since 1996, compiling an impressive 10-1 singles mark. She helped the United States wrest the Cup from Spain in 1996 and was a member of last year’s team which captured a record 16th Fed Cup title for the U.S. Earlier this week, Davenport was the first player named to the team by U.S. Fed Cup captain King, who has until Nov. 10 to name her full team. If they are willing, sisters Venus and Serena Williams are clearly the top choices to fill out the squad after sweeping the women’s singles and doubles gold medals at the Olympics in Sydney.