Wed Aug 20 23:43:03 2008

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Chakvetadze, Hantuchova and Mauresmo reach Pilot Pen quarters

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New Haven, CT (Sports Network) - Top seeds Anna Chakvetadze and Daniela Hantuchova along with former world No. 1 Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo were all second-round winners Wednesday at the $600,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final hardcourt U.S. Open tune-up.

Chakvetadze got past Aussie Casey Dellacqua 6-4, 6-4, while second-seeded Hantuchova battled back to force a third-set tiebreaker before knocking off unseeded Belarussian Olga Govortsova 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).

The unseeded Mauresmo upended fifth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) at the Connecticut Tennis Center. The two-time Grand Slam champion Mauresmo was the New Haven runner-up in 2005.

The Russian Chakvetadze will face Romanian Sorana Cirstea in Thursday's quarterfinals, while Hantuchova will take on seventh-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, who dispatched of Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-2.

Mauresmo will meet fourth-seeded Hungarian Agnes Szavay, last year's runner-up here to Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Like Schnyder, sixth-seeded Flavia Pennetta also went by the way of the upset, as Cirstea came from behind to bounce the Italian 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

One other second-rounder saw Dane Caroline Wozniacki douse Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-3 on the grounds at Yale University. Wozniacki will battle third-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in the quarters.

This week's winner will collect $95,500.