Nikolay Davydenko, the Russian who has to play with the constant uncertainty of an investigation hanging over him, earned himself a great chance of reaching only his second ATP Tour final for 17 months on Thursday. The world number five from Moscow overcame Andy Murray, the giantkiller from Britain, 7-5, 6-4, to become an unexpected semifinalist at the Dubai Open. Davydenko mixed consistency with aggression with superb attacks from the baseline against an opponent who had eliminated world number one Roger Federer in the first round. His continued excellence is all the more surprising considering that he still has no knowledge of how much longer the ATP Tour will need to check for evidence of whether or not he has had involvement in corrupt betting practices. Davydenko won because his aggression was more effective than Murray's preference for containment and defense and occasional counter-attack, although much might have been different had the 20-year-old Scot taken his chances. Murray had break points in both of Davydenko's first two service games, and two more in the sixth game of the second set. Davydenko now plays Feliciano Lopez, who upset compatriot David Ferrer 6-4, 6-3. It was a victory for a player who played a better all-court game over a player with tremendous speed, brilliant forehand and tenacious back-court rallying. Ferrer made the first break and reached 4-2, before Lopez pummelled some heavy forehands to break back and got on a roll. He managed another break immediately, as Ferrer served to try to save the set, and after converting his third set point, sprinted with extravagant speed to his chair. He continued to play well in the second set. On Wednesday Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick also made the quarterfinals. Djokovic defeated Fabrice Santoro of France 6-3, 7-6 (3). Roddick beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quaterfinal clash with Nadal. Djokovic will face Igor Andreev of Russia, who beat Richard Gasquet of France 6-3, 6-4.Venus stumbles past Peng World number seven Venus Williams stumbled past China's Peng Shuai 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Bangalore Open on Thursday. The American second seed, who was given a first-round bye, was stretched by her gritty 58th-ranked opponent in a second-round match that lasted nearly two hours. The former world number one joined younger sister Serena, Swiss Patty Schnyder and Russian Vera Zvonareva as the seeds who have made it through to the last eight. Seventh seed Zvonareva beat Romanian qualifier Agnes Szatmari 7-6, 6-1 and will meet Venus next. Third-seeded Serena and fourth seed Schnyder booked their quarterfinal places on Wednesday. In other matches Zi Yan of China beat Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-2, 6-1; Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Sanda Mamic of Croatia 6-2, 6-2.Hewitt upset In Los Angeles, second seed and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt was upset 6-3, 7-5 by Frenchman Julien Benneteau to cap a day of surprises at the Las Vegas Open on Wednesday. Australian Hewitt, a three-time winner of the tournament, had reached the final in five of his six previous appearances in the event. Fifth seed Potito Starace and number eight Nicolas Kiefer were also knocked out. Benneteau, the world number 61, failed on his first attempt to serve out the match but broke Hewitt again and held to set up a clash with unseeded American Sam Querrey who needed less than an hour to eliminate Kiefer. American qualifier Amer Delic set up a match against fourth seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina when Starace retired with a back injury after trailing 6-3, 3-0. Querrey converted five of six break points to upset German Kiefer 6-3, 6-1. Argentine Canas broke big-serving Australian Chris Guccione four times to win their second-round match 6-2, 7
