Zheng Jie overcame a slow start to beat Jill Craybas of the US 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 at Nasdaq-100 Open on Monday, becoming the first Chinese to enter the quarterfinals of this major WTA tournament.

Zheng will next play Tatiana Golovin of France, the 22nd seed who dumped 6th-sesded Elena Dementieva of Russia to qualify.

Maria Sharapova also earned a berth by beating Russian compatriot Maria Kirilenko 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Monday.

Seeded fourth, Sharapova committed 43 unforced errors, but only five in the final set against the 20th-seeded Kirilenko.

"I basically just tried to hang in there," Sharapova said. "I wasn't playing my best tennis, for sure, but I started to pick it up in the third."

Sharapova won her first title of the year on March 18 at Indian Wells. She was the runner-up at Key Biscayne last year to Kim Clijsters, who was upset on Saturday in the second round.

No. 6-seeded Elena Dementieva, runner-up to Sharapova at Indian Wells, was upset by No. 22 Tatiana Golovin of France 6-2, 6-1. Dementieva lost 13 of 17 second-serve points, including seven with double faults.

Advancing with Golovin and Sharapova were No. 12 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 21 Ai Sugiyama?

In men's third-round play, No. 4 Andy Roddick dominated with his serve to beat No. 31 Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4. Roddick won all 18 first-serve points in the opening set.

He'll next play German qualifier Simon Greul, who won only four points in the first set, then rallied to beat Tim Henman 0-6, 6-1, 7-5.

James Blake hit 41 winners and beat No. 23 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. Seeded ninth, Blake broke serve six times and needed only 22 minutes to take the final set.

While Blake played in the grandstand, his brother, Thomas, watched the Sharapova-Kirilenko match in the stadium.

"What does that say about men's tennis these days?," James Blake said with a laugh. "They're two pretty cute girls. I don't blame him."

Off to the best start of his career, Blake improved to 21-5 this year. The American cracked the top 10 in the rankings for the first time last week and needs one more win to earn his first Key Biscayne quarterfinal berth.

Unseeded Dmitry Tursunov, who was born in Russia and lives in California, reached the fourth round at an ATP Masters Series event for the first time by defeating No. 24 Igor Andreev of Russia, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

Greul, a 24-year-old German ranked 130th, came into the tournament with one career ATP victory. Battling nerves in the day's opening match on stadium court, he lost the first seven games.

"At the beginning I said, 'Stay calm and play my game and focus on each point,"' Greul said. "It didn't work that well in the first set."

But Greul settled down and broke Henman's serve five times in the final two sets, including the last game. The upset came after the unseeded Henman beat former world No. 1 Marat Safin and No. 13-seeded Lleyton Hewitt in the first two rounds.

Greul's comeback left Henman shaking his head after the match.

"No doubt the most bizarre I've ever played. I'm shocked, really," Henman said. "His level went from nonexistent to playing some pretty good stuff in the space of a game."

Greul neutralized Henman's serve-and-volley tactics, coming forward himself and winning 19 of 25 points at the net.

"I wanted to keep the pressure on him," Greul said. "If he's putting the pressure on me coming to the net, it's difficult for me. So I tried to come to the net, force him to make some mistakes, and it worked. Normally I'm a baseliner, but I'm trying to go to the net more often."

Kuznetsova received a walkover when No. 7-seeded Patty Schnyder withdrew before their fourth-round match. Schnyder was unable to play because of an ankle injury sustained during her third-round victory, but said she expects to be sidelined only a few days.

Sugiyama beat No. 32 Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2, and Zheng won 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 over Jill Craybas, the last American in the women's draw.

(AP via China Daily March 28, 2006)