Rafter enter quarters

ANTWERP, February 20: World number three Pat Rafter fended off a first set comeback by French Cedric Pioline to advance to the quarter-final...

ANTWERP, February 20: World number three Pat Rafter fended off a first set comeback by French Cedric Pioline to advance to the quarter-finals of the European Community Tennis Championship.

The second seeded Australian, back in action after a three week layoff which included two weeks on the beach, raced into a 5-0 lead but allowed Pioline to take the next four games before claiming the set 6-4.

Britain’s Greg Rusedski battled back from the brink of defeat to beat Frechman Guillaume Raoux after a heart-stopping 15-13 tie-break in the final set.

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Fourth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov was knocked out by his bete noire defending champion Marc Rosset of Switzerland. Rosset beat Kafelnikov 3-6 6-4 6-3, now advances straight to the semi-finals after his quarter-final opponent Magnus Larsson of Sweden pulled out with an ankle injury. Tarango overcame an early temper outburst and knocked out Sweden’s Magnus Norman 7-6 6-2.

Chang downs Gaudenzi

MEMPHIS: Michael Chang’s comfort level is showing. No. 2seed Chang beat 15th-seeded Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy 6-3, 6-3 in the third round to reach the quarter-finals. In the other quarter-finals, No. 5 Thomas Enqvist a 6-3, 6-1 winner over No. 11 Jason Stoltenberg will meet fourth-seeded Mark Philippousis. He defeated 13th-seeded Sjeng Schalken 6-4, 6-4.

No. 12 seed Mark Woodforde downed two-time champion Todd Martin 7-5, 6-3, keeping Martin out of the quarter-finals for the first time since 1992. Woodforde will play No. 3 Gustavo Kuerten who beat Jan-Michael Gambill 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

Chang took a 4-1 lead over Gaudenzi in the first set and put him away quickly. It looked like a repeat in the first game of the second set as Chang broke Gaudenzi’s strong serve, but Gaudenzi broke back and held for a 2-1 lead. He went ahead 15-40 in the fourth game with another break point when Chang came back for deuce and held on to tie the set 2-2.