Attitude Czech

Unseeded Nicole Vaidisova kept the world's Top 4 players from advancing to the semifinals of the Medibank International in Sydney yesterday with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 upset of No. 3 seed Jelena Jankovic.

NikkiV has yet to advance to a final of a Tier II event or higher, and she'll get another to break that streak when she takes on world No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova later today.

The Czech was en route to a straight set victory over Jelena when she broke for a 4-3 lead in the second set. But it seemed she would fold once more under the pressure of defeating an elite player. She tossed her racquet and huffed and puffed on her way to her chair after dropping the last three games and the set.

But she gathered herself, adjusted her attitude, and played a solid third set, breaking Jankovic's serve in the ninth game and rallying from a 0-30 deficit in match game to secure her place in the semis.

In the other semifinal, No. 1 seed Justine Henin will play No. 3 seed Ana Ivanovic who overcame yet another second set lapse to dismiss Katarina Srebotnik 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

The men's seeds didn't have a great day. Top seed Richard Gasquet fell to Dmitry Tursunov and four-time champion and No. 6 seed Lleyton Hewitt lost two tiebreaks to Aussie wildcard Chris Guccione. No. 5 seed Carlos Moya lost to Agustin Calleri for only the second time in 7 meetings and No. 8 seed Fernando Verdasco had no chance against Sebastien Grosjean. No. 4 seed Tomas Berdych is the only seed remaining at the quarterinal stage of the men's draw.