Williams sisters in quarter clash

ROME, MAY 8: Holder Mary Pierce crashed out as a new wave of women players rolled into the Italian Open quarter-finals yesterday. Serena Wil...

ROME, MAY 8: Holder Mary Pierce crashed out as a new wave of women players rolled into the Italian Open quarter-finals yesterday. Serena Williams, 16, provided another third round upset when she eliminated four times winner Conchita Martinez to fulfil her own pre-event prediction of a last eight clash against 17-year-old sister Venus.

Pierce also fell victim to a young pretender aged 16, losing in straight sets to the tall and powerful unseeded Croatian Mirjana Lucic. The 7-5, 6-4 victory was Lucic8217;s biggest scalp to date.

Number 14 seed Anna Kournikova struck a blow for the teenage brigade with a three sets victory over French Open champion Iva Majoli of Croatia. The Russian8217;s win sets up another all-teenage quarter-final match today against Martina Hingis, who swept past number 10 seed Irina Spirlea of Romania with a second convincing straight sets win.

But Monica Seles was unceremoniously eliminated from the tournament where she first made her name as a 16-year-old. Sandrine Testud of France,repeating her 1997 Wimbledon triumph over the American sixth seed 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Unseeded Serena Williams took just over an hour to humiliate Spain8217;s Martinez 6-2, 6-2 and renew her family feud with Venus, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over French qualifier Alexandra Fusai.

Mantilla fights back

HAMBURG: Felix Mantilla staged a stunning comeback to defeat fellow Spaniard Alberto Berasatugui and reach the quarter-finals of the Licher German Open here.

The 1997 finalist fought back from 1-5 down in the final set and saved nine match points to score a 1-6, 7-6 7-5, 7-6 7-4 victory here yesterday.Second seed Greg Rusedski beat Emilio Alvarez of Spain 7-6 7-3, 0-6, 6-3 in a match that had been suspended overnight, but then came up short against Goran Ivanisevic, losing the battle between the two big-serving left-handers, 6-4, 6-2.

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Former French Open champion Michael Chang failed to advance beyond the second round, sinking 6-3, 6-7 4-7, 6-2 against Spain8217;s Francisco Clavet. Two other former French Openchampions excelled, as Thomas Muster and Sergi Bruguera claimed overwhelming victories.

Muster took a swift 52 minutes to eliminate German qualifier Jens Knippschild 6-1, 6-4 and Sergi Bruguera was even more impressive in sweeping aside Australian Open semi-finalist Nicolas Escude of France 6-0, 6-2 in just 42 minutes.