Top-seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia has been knocked out of the quarterfinals of the Sydney International tennis tournament in Australia.
Hewitt, a four-time champion, lost his quarterfinal in three sets to Andreas Seppi of Italy 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. In the semifinals, Seppi will play Russian Igor Andreev, a three-set winner over countryman Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Meanwhile, second-seed Nikolay Davydenko reached the semifinals when his opponent, Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, withdrew with a leg injury. Davydenko will take on American James Blake, a three-set winner over Arnaud Clement of France 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
In the women's semifinals, fifth-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium advanced with a straight-sets win over Svetlana Kuzentsova of Russia 6-3, 6-1. In the finals, Henin-Hardenne takes on Italian Francesca Schiavone, who beat Czech player Nicole Vaidisova 6-4, 6-3.
The tournament is one of the final warm-ups for the first major tournament of the year, the Australian Open, which starts Monday in Melbourne.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, and AP.