Top seed Nadia Petrova and sixth seed Bethanie Mattek advanced to the semi-finals of the 175,000-dollar WTA Quebec Challenge with straight-set victories here Friday.
Russia's Petrova defeated Hungary's Melinda Czink 6-1, 6-4 while Mattek eliminated fellow American Melanie Oudin 7-6 (9/7), 6-1.
Petrova, who has dropped just 14 games in three triumphs this week, seeks her second title of the season after capturing the crown at Cincinnati in August.
Petrova's Saturday foe will be US lucky loser Angela Haynes, who defeated France's Nathalie Dechy 2-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
Haynes, playing in her first WTA quarter-final, made the draw when Italian second seed Flavia Pennetta pulled out and rallied to deny unseeded Dechy her third career semi-final at the Quebec event.
Mattek will face the winner of a night match between Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan and home-nation favorite Aleksandra Wozniak, the fifth seed.
No Canadian has ever reached the final in 15 years of playing at Quebec but Wozniak, 21, became the first Canadian in 20 years to win a WTA title when she broke through at Stanford earlier this year as a qualifier.
Copyright 2008 AFP Global Edition
