Tennis: Daniilidou overcomes tireless Tu

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Defending champion Eleni Daniilidou lives on, but organisers of the international women's classic should strike a special medal for 2001 champion Meilen Tu.

In an amazing display of courage, 25-year-old Tu, unseeded and down at 143 on the rankings (and no longer warranting a place in the WTA players' guide), had played every day since qualifying for the ASB Classic started last Saturday.

Late yesterday afternoon the American bowed out 5-7, 2-6 of the main draw quarter-finals to Daniilidou, of Greece, who will now meet top seed Paola Suarez, of Argentina, in a much-awaited second semifinal - a replay of their quarter-final last year - this afternoon.

It was Tu's second match of the day and only the second of six not to go to three sets.

After Wednesday's delays it was a busy day for many players, including Daniilidou, who was on court three times.

She resumed her second-round match at 5-5 against Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi and was taken to a tiebreak before winning the first set.

The second was over quickly at 6-2.

Daniilidou then had a long wait before meeting Tu.

It needed a courageous effort from Tu to even reach the last eight.

On a back court yet again - for the fifth time in as many matches - she needed three sets and 3h 17min to see off seventh-seeded German Marlene Weingartner.

The first set, won 6-4 by Weingartner, took 1h 50min.

Tu took just 28 minutes to level at 1-1 with her 6-3 win in the second.

It was eventually decided in a third-set tiebreaker after games went with serve to 5-5. Tu dropped, but immediately broke back.

The tussle continued to 4-4 in the tiebreaker before Tu surged, won the last three points, and headed for a well-deserved break.

Suarez was thankful she had beaten the rain on Wednesday.

She had an early afternoon singles quarter-final yesterday - beating Kristina Brandi 6-4, 6-2 in 74 minutes - and returned later for her doubles quarter-final.

With Virginia Ruano Pascual, the other half of the top-seeded combination, Suarez wasted no time in finishing her day's work.

They raced through 6-2, 6-0 over American Jennifer Hopkins and Taiwanese Janet Lee in just 59 minutes.

Second seed Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi had a rare trip to a back court - and came unstuck.

Against unseeded American Ashley Harkleroad, the Israeli went ahead 2-0 and 3-1, breaking her opponent twice. Holding serve for 4-1 suggested Smashnova-Pistolesi would breeze through.

But Harkleroad, encouraged by a growing crowd, eventually closed to 5-5 then 6-6, and went on to take a drawn-out tiebreaker 9-7.

After a 70 minute first set, 18-year-old Harkleroad needed just 33 minutes to finish it 6-2 in the second and book her quarter-final with Anca Barna, who had overcome plucky Kiwi Eden Marama in the day's first match on centre court.

Although beaten 4-6, 5-7 in 80 minutes, Marama showed plenty of courage against the eighth-seeded German, who is ranked inside the world's top 50.

Punished for a couple of impatient shots by baseliner Barna, Marama gave as good as she got for much of the match. In stretching Barna with a solid combination of powerful forehands and deft shots from mid-court, 17-year-old Marama picked up valuable WTA points.