4, 6-2 to Italy's Francesca Schiavone at the WTA Championships Friday before stunning the crowd by announcing her retirement from tennis. In the White Group, Vera Zvonareva beat Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-5 while Victoria Azarenka beat Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 6-1 to round out the group stage of competition. The 29-year-old Dementieva, making her 10th appearance at the prestigious tournament, blinked away tears as she thanked her fans around the world and paid tribute to her mother Vera for her support throughout her career. “I would like to thank all the people around the world for supporting me,” the Russian told the crowd as her mother and fellow competitors wiped away tears at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in the Qatari capital. “I'm so emotional and it's so hard to say goodbye.” Dementieva and Schiavone had already been eliminated from the Maroon Group after Caroline Wozniacki and Sam Stosur sealed semifinal spots a day earlier, but with year-end ranking points and $100,000 on offer for the win neither player lacked motivation. World No. 2 Zvonareva maintained her perfect record in the White Group with an impressive straight-set (6-4, 7-5) victory over Belgian Clijsters. The Russian, who moments before the match bade an emotional farewell to Dementieva, was the only player to go through the group stage unbeaten and will play Wozniacki in the semifinals Saturday. Clijsters will play Stosur for a place in the final. In the day's last match, Azarenka of Belarus proved too strong for Serb Jankovic (6-4, 6-1), who was the only player to lose all three of her group games. Montanes upsets Davydenko Sixth-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain rallied from a set and break down to beat top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) in the quarterfinals of the Open Sud de France Friday. The Spaniard will play defending champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in his first career indoor semifinal. The fourth-seeded Ljubicic beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) for his 400th career win. Third-seeded Gael Monfils also advanced to the last four after beating No. 5 John Isner of the United States 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Isner had 12 aces in the match to pass 1,000 for the season. Monfils plays either No. 2 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Gilles Simon in the semis, guaranteeing a French finalist. Youzhny advances Top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny saved a match point to beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (6) and reach the St. Petersburg Open semifinals for the fourth time Friday. Youzhny, the 2004 champion and 2002 finalist, will take on Dmitry Tursunov after his fellow Russian beat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 6-2 for his first semifinals in 16 months. Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan and Illya Marchenko of Ukraine earned their second career semifinal appearances 12 months after their first semis on tour in Moscow as qualifiers. Kukushkin beat his second seed of the week in third-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, while Marchenko ousted Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Melzer in semis Defending champion Jurgen Melzer reached the semifinals of the Bank Austria Trophy without playing after Philipp Kohlschreiber pulled out with a right adductor strain shortly before their quarterfinal Friday. The top-seeded Melzer, who was 0-3 in career matches against the German, next plays third-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain, who defeated No. 8 Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Andreas Haider-Maurer joined fellow Austrian Melzer in the semifinals after upsetting last year's finalist and second-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-6 (1), 6-4. Germany's Michael Berrer completed Saturday's semifinal lineup when he rallied to beat fourth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 5-7, 6-1, 6
