By DAVE WORSLEY
Leanne Baker, aiming for her fifth successive New Zealand Residential championship singles title took a tumble on quarter-finals day at the North Harbour Centre yesterday.
The third women's seed was upset in the last eight by 19-year-old Tracey O'Connor 6-3 6-4.
O'Connor will now face Shelley Stephens, who overcame Rewa
Hudson 6-2 7-6.
The other side of the women's draw pits top seed Pavlina Nola against fourth seed Ilke Gers.
In an unusual twist for the Residentials, both players were born overseas - Nola in Bulgaria, Gers in South Africa - although both fulfil requirements as New Zealanders.
Nola started well in her match against Tanja Markovic, a 16-year-old whose nerves appeared to get the better of her. Nola took the first set 6-0 but a rapid improvement in Markovic's shots and a lack of finishing from Nola allowed the young North Harbour player to pick up five games in the second.
Gers, 20, wasted no time beating sixth seed Rachel Dive 6-2 6-0.
In the men's quarter-finals, 18-year-old Jacob Olsen showed no fear as he took the game to top seed Mark Nielsen, winning the first set with a serve-and-volley game 6-4. He dropped the second 7-5 as the experience of Nielsen showed through.
In the third, Nielsen grabbed the key points to win 6-4 in 2 1/2 hours.
Nielsen now faces eighth seed Simon Rea, who is still in his teens and was a winner of the 18s title last year. Rea, a big lefthander with a powerful serve and good net game, used tactics to outplay unseeded GD Jones 6-2 6-0.
"I didn't want to let him get into any rhythm from the back of the court," said Rea. "I had seen him play well in the past and wanted to mix it up for him."
The other men's semifinal is between second seed Robbie Cheyne, and third seed Alistair Hunt, who won the title in 1994.
Hunt looked to be in for a battle in the first set as fifth seed Mark Thompson had him at 4-4. But the big Cantabrian took the next eight games for a 6-4 6-0 win.
Cheyne ground out a three-set win over the talented Nick Turner.
