China's Shuai Peng continued her amazing run at the $1.3 million Acura Classic, as she ended Belgian Kim Clijsters, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals.

Peng had earlier beaten third seed Elena Dementieva this week, but her victory on Friday night may be more impressive. Clijsters, who was seeded seventh, had won 26 straight matches on American hardcourts. The run dated back to her season-ending championships victory in November of 2003. It marked her first defeat in the United States since losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne in the 2003 U.S. Open final.

Clijsters' streak included winning back-to-back titles earlier this year at Indian Wells Miami, and last weekend in Stanford. However, she double faulted three times in the second set against Peng. The 19-year-old Peng, who has never won a tournament in her WTA Tour career, started 2005 ranked 80th, but has moved up to 46th since then. Peng won the final three games of the opening set, breaking Clijsters for a 5-4 lead. She broke Clijsters two more times in the second set, before holding serve in the final game to advance.

Peng's opponent in Saturday's semifinals will be resurgent French star Mary Pierce.

A stomach muscle pull forced Sania Mirza, fresh from her ascent into the top 50 rankings, to skip next week's $1.3 million Rogers Cup in Toronto, her father revealed.


"Sania is struggling with a muscle pull in the stomach and playing more will only make it worse. We may pull her out of next week's Rogers Cup to give her time to recover for the US Open," Imran Mirza told from Hyderabad.

Mary Pierce routed Ai Sugiyama 6-0, 6-3 Sunday in the finals of the Acura Classic to win her first tournament in over a year. The sixth-seeded Pierce was dominant, winning 11 of the first 12 games and breaking Sugiyama's serve six straight times. By the time Sugiyama held her serve -- the seventh game of the second set -- Pierce already had a 5-2 lead. "I felt like I played well and did what I needed to win," said Pierce, a two-time Grand Slam champion. "She seemed hampered with her movement," Pierce said. "She's always pretty quick. She seemed a little bit slower today."

Sugiyama agreed that her playing schedule worked against her. "It was tough because I played so late [Saturday]," she said. Pierce, ranked 14th in the world, attacked Sugiyama's serve from the start. Pierce allowed her only two points on serve in the first set which took 22 minutes. "I was really playing well, not making too many mistakes," Pierce said. "I was really pleased with my first set." Things didn't get much better for Sugiyama, even though she broke Pierce's serve in the first game of the second set. Sugiyama, who played with her left thigh wrapped all week as a Preventive measure, called for the WTA trainer at 2-1 and received treatment for a split toenail on her right big toe. Pierce broke Sugiyama's serve three straight times after the medical time out to move ahead 5-1. "She played great," said Sugiyama, who is ranked 38th. "She was aggressive and every point was tough for me."

Pierce squandered four match points in the next game and double faulted to give Sugiyama the game. Sugiyama saved two more match points, including when Pierce whiffed on a forehand overhead at the net. "That was a first for me," said Pierce, who shared a laugh on the court with Sugiyama after she missed the shot. "You couldn't have asked for an easier shot to put away the match. What can you do? You just have to laugh." The 75-minute match ended when Pierce hit a 109-mph ace to capture the winner's purse of $189,000. Pierce became the 16th WTA player to exceed $16 million in career earnings. Sugiyama won $96,000 for finishing in second place.

Paradorn Srichaphan beats Wesley Moodie at the third round of the Washington DC (Legg Mason Classic). After receiving a bye in the 1st Round, for the second week in a row. In the second round he defeated Paul Goldstein. He faces Andy Roddick in the next round.

Mahesh Bhupathi & Martin Damm defeated Karol Beck & Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-4 to secure their place in the semifinal.

13th-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan lost to top seed Andy Roddick 7-6(4), 6-2 in the semifinal match at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic

Mahesh Bhupathi and Martin Damm of Czech Republic gave a tough fight to top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan before faltering in the semifinal of the Legg Mason Tennis classic tournament in Washington, USA. They lost the match 7-6(3), 7-6(4).

JAPAN'S Ai Sugiyama has followed up her stunning win over Svetlana Kuznetsova with a comfortable win over a Bulgarian teenager to move into the semi-finals of the San Diego Classic.
On Thursday Sugiyama beat second seed Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round and yesterday booked her place in the last four of the tournament with a 6-1, 6-2 win over 15-year-old Sesil Karatancheva in the quarter-finals.

The earlier win remains of more significance to the Japanese player, who is targeting a move back up the world rankings. The 30-year-old Sugiyama counter-punched brilliantly against US Open champion Kuznetsova, who got off to a fast start but in the second set, the Japanese veteran began to wear her down with sharply angled shots.

In the third set, Kuznetsova committed a series of unforced errors to be broken to 4-2 and lost the contest when she flailed at an easy backhand. A one-time member of the world top 10, Sugiyama's level has dropped. At the end of last year when her standard began to fall, she thought about retiring. "I'd lost my energy and my motivation," said Sugiyama. But Sugiyama hired a new hitting partner, Italy's Simone Amorico, and is also travelling full-time with a fitness trainer. "My goal is to get back into the top 10. My fitness is getting better and with the new team I'm getting my confidence back," she said.

Japan's Ai Sugiyama recovered from a set down to shock second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6 6-4 6-3 at the Acura Classic in San Diego. Sugiyama, who faces Sesil Karatantcheva in the quarters, kept the pressure on Kuznetsova and the 2004 US Open winner came up with a string of mistakes.