Kuznetsova, Federer advance at Open

MELBOURNE, Australia — Defending champion Roger Federer advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, extending his winning streak to 25 matches with a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) defeat of Marcos Baghdatis on Sunday.

Federer has won 48 out of his last 50 matches, and hasn't lost since the second round at the Athens Olympics last August. He next faces either four-time winner Andre Agassi or No. 11 Joachim Johansson, who met later Sunday in the fourth round.

Federer was broken in the fourth game but didn't face another break point.

Baghdatis stunned Federer with some whipping crosscourt forehands and had support from a small but vocal group of Greeks and Cypriots who'd let off flares after his third-round win.

Top-ranked Federer beat Baghdatis at the last U.S. Open, the 19-year-old Cypriot's only other appearance at a major.

After falling behind 3-0 in the tiebreaker, Federer reeled off five straight points and then clinched it on two forehand errors from the 2003 Australian Open boys champion.

"I enjoyed the battle for sure," said Federer. "After I've won, it's always good to battle it out and win it."

Federer said he'd seen Baghdatis' forehand at the U.S. Open, and knew he'd be scrambling.

U.S. Open women's champion Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced, not surprisingly, by beating another Russian. Kuznetsova pounded 29 winners in a 6-4, 6-2 win over Vera Douchevina, who only had five.

Seven Russian women made the fourth round, including three Grand Slam winners.

Two are already out.

Second-ranked Amelie Mauresmo of France had a 6-2, 6-4 win over Evgenia Linetskaya in a mistake-prone match with 11 service breaks. Linetskaya held serve once in the match.

Mauresmo raced to a 4-0 lead. After Linetskaya broke her to make it 4-1, Mauresmo took a medical timeout, left the court and came back with her left thigh wrapped.

She had trouble on serve after that, dropping it once again in the first set and twice in the second, but held on to close with an overhead winner.

Kuznetsova was dragged into the headlines earlier in the week when a Belgian regional sports minister said the 19-year-old Russian star had tested positive for ephedrine, a stimulant commonly used in cold medicines, at a charity match last month.