Clijsters downs Molik to set up Tauziat showdown

Third-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters defeated hard-serving Australian Alicia Molik 7-6 6-3 in the third round of the $565,000 Los Angeles women's Classic on Thursday to set up a quarter-final clash against Nathalie Tauziat.

The fifth seeded Frenchwoman came through an erratic match against 11th seed Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia to post a 6-0 0-6 6-2 victory in 62 minutes.

"It was OK," said Clijsters following the 71-minute victory. "I was not at my best but it's hard to play against Alicia. It's hard to get into a rhythm on her serve, but I'm happy that I won and happy I could raise my level throughout the match."

Earlier, two other seeds advanced to the final eight.

Seventh seed Elena Dementieva of Russia dismissed France's Virginie Razzano 6-4 6-4, and 12th seed Amy Fazier of the U.S. brushed aside wildcard entry Wynne Prakusya of Indonesia 7-5 6-3 in a little over an hour.

Prakusya was a last minute replacement for the injured Russian star Anna Kournikova.

Oldest Player
At 18, Clijsters is 15 years the junior of Tauziat, who is the oldest Tour player and plans to retire at the end of this year.

"You have to admire the fact that she's still playing," Clijsters said. "I think it's great. You have 17 and 18-year-old players just coming through and then you have older players like Nathalie...its good for women's tennis to have a mixture."

But Clijsters knows she's in for a battle against the French star, who began competing in 1984 -- one year after the Belgian's birth.

"I've played her a few times and its hard to see where she's going to serve," she said. "Nathalie is a player who is very steady and has good volleys. So I will have to return very well against her."

Clijsters used her potent return to overcame a service break. She trailed 5-4 but forced a tiebreaker in which she built a 6-3 lead before Molik netted a drop volley to end the first set.

"When I was a break down in the first set, and she was serving for the first set. the pressure was on her," Clijsters said. "I needed to keep the ball in play, and try not to make that many unforced errors. I broke her and the tiebreaker went my way."

Clijsters trailed 3-2 in the second set but called on her blazing ground game to capture the final four games to seal victory.

Bizarre Contest
The Tauziat-Dokic matchup was the most bizarre contest of the day. Tauziat could do little wrong in the first set, steamrolling past her opponent in just 14 minutes.

"I played incredible in that set, I didn't miss a shot," said Tauziat. "I was surprised to sweep the set against a player like Dokic.

But the 18-year old Yugoslavian turned the tables in the next set, posting a shutout of her own to level the match.

"I was sure she would react because Jelena is not the type of player who is going to give up," the winner said. "She is a fighter and it showed in the second set."

Tauziat knew she had to step up her game after Dokic levelled the match.

"I made sure I put more power on the ball and tried to be more aggressive."

After swapping breaks, Tauziat broke again in the sixth game to go ahead 4-2 before a second break sealed the win.

Razzano had surprised the ninth seed Arantxa Sanchez in the second round, but the French teenager couldn't get past Dementieva, who was a semifinalist here last year.

Frazier converted all four break point opportunities to claim her second straight sets victory in as many days. With the win, the American now faces world number one and top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland in the last eight.