Kournikova Reaches Kremlin Semis

MOSCOW (AP) â€” Fourth-seeded Anna Kournikova of Russia breezed into the semifinals of the $2 million Kremlin Cup with a 6-4, 6-1 victory Friday over compatriot Tatiana Panova. <br><br>The tired Panova,

Friday, October 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MOSCOW (AP) â€” Fourth-seeded Anna Kournikova of Russia breezed into the semifinals of the $2 million Kremlin Cup with a 6-4, 6-1 victory Friday over compatriot Tatiana Panova.

The tired Panova, playing her fifth consecutive tournament, challenged Kournikova only in the first set.

``There was nothing special in her game today, but I couldn't play better,'' Panova said.

Fifth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France advanced to her fourth semifinal this year by eliminating unseeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Maleeva, who won the tournament in 1995, won the first set and was just two points away from her second semifinal this year and second consecutive upset in the tournament.

She was up 6-5 in the second set and ahead 40-30 in the game, but then made a double-fault to lose the set on a tiebreaker.

``This was probably the only bad game I've played in the whole match,'' said Maleeva, who upset third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain on Thursday.

``The lesson for me today â€” I should keep the basis of my game serene and stay cool,'' said Mauresmo, who in the semifinals Saturday will face world No. 1 Martina Hingis.

In men's quarterfinal action, David Prinosil of Germany fired 19 aces to beat Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-6 (5) in a match that lasted 2 hours, 41 minutes.