Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova beat top seed Amelie Mauresmo 7-6, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open on Friday, robbing the Frenchwoman of the chance to take the number one world ranking this week.
The defeat ended a run of 16 successive victories that earned Mauresmo three titles this year, including the Australian Open.
In another quarter-final, Russian third seed Maria Sharapova gained revenge for her recent defeat by Switzerland's Martina Hingis in Tokyo, winning 6-3, 6-4.
Kuznetsova was to play fourth seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semi-finals later on Friday after the Belgian defeated Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 7-6.
In the second semi-final, Sharapova tackles second seeded American Lindsay Davenport, who came from behind to beat unseeded Russian Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
"She played very well and I think I was running a little bit out of gas today," Mauresmo told reporters.
"These two things combined made it pretty hard to come off the court as a winner.
The match resumed on Friday after play had been suspended overnight with the Frenchwoman having broken to lead 3-2 in the tie-break.
But Kuznetsova settled quickly, levelled at 4-4, and held off three set points before clinching the 22-minute tie-break 13-11 on her fifth set point.
AGGRESSION
Top seeded Mauresmo made the more positive start to the second set, holding off a break point before breaking to love to lead 2-0.
She also held two break points for a 4-0 lead before Kuznetsova turned the match around, breaking in the fifth game when Mauresmo netted a weak backhand.
"Even if I was 3-0 I didn't really feel in control because I felt she was making some errors," said Mauresmo.
"To come back and break me I thought she played pretty well, very consistent and very aggressive and not making as many errors as at the beginning of that set."
Rallying powerfully from the baseline and also showing confidence at the net, Kuznetsova continued to stretch Mauresmo, who netted a forehand at 4-4 to leave the Russian to serve for the match.
The quality of the clash between Sharapova and Hingis fluctuated, with many skilful rallies contrasting with a large number of often careless errors.
After an early exchange of breaks in the first set, Sharapova broke to lead 4-3 when Hingis netted a backhand.
And although Hingis twice broke serve in the second set she was unable to consolidate on both occasions.
Sharapova, who hit a total of seven double-faults, then broke again to lead 5-3, failed to serve out the match, but broke yet again to claim victory on her third match point.
"I probably wasn't as concentrated as last time, but she played well," Hingis said. "Today I think was just lack of patience pretty much, and that's why I came up short at the end."
"There were so many opportunities and you can't allow someone like her to come back into the game. I had so many game points, break points, and couldn't finish them.
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