Nadia Petrova and Dinara Safina survived an exodus of top players at the WTA Korea Open Thursday, with only one of the top four seeds surviving the second round. Russia's Petrova, seeded one, fended off in-form American Vania King, winning the first set comfortably then rallying from 0-3 in the second to prevail 6-3, 6-4. It provided some revenge for Petrova, who lost to King and Yaroslava Shvedova in the US Open doubles final when she partnered Liezel Huber. Former world No. 1 Safina, meanwhile, continued her return from injury by ousting third seed and fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-3. Elsewhere, ageless defending champion Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, who turns 40 next week, beat 19-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the second seed, 6-2, 6-1. In other games, Russia's Ekaterina Makarova ended the tournament of fourth-seeded Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez while Hungary's Agnes Szavay beat Britain's Elena Baltacha in straight sets. No. 5-seeded Alisa Kleybanova of Russia also advanced. Malisse beats Ljubicic In France, Xavier Malisse of Belgium upset former winner and third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-5, 6-2 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Open de Moselle. Top-seeded Marin Cilic advanced with a 7-5, 7-6 (3) win over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia. Malisse recorded his second win in four meetings with Ljubicic, who had 12 aces but lost his serve three times. Malisse will next face eighth-seeded Gilles Simon of France, who needed nearly two hours and 15 aces to defeat Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3. Jarkko Nieminen of Finland cruised past Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 6-4, 6-1 to advance in just 67 minutes after saving six of the seven break points he faced. Cilic wasted seven break points against the promising Lacko, who missed a good opportunity when he failed to convert two break points in the 11th game of the second set. Top seeds out In Uzbekistan, top-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru and second-seeded Akgul Amanmuradova were upset in the quarterfinals of the Tashkent Open Thursday. The fifth-seeded Monica Niculescu beat Dulgheru in an all-Romanian match 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3, while local favorite Amanmuradova, a two-time runner-up, was ousted by seventh-seeded Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 7-6 (5), 6-3. Niculescu reached her first career semifinals on her third attempt here - she lost in the quarterfinals in the two previous seasons. Niculescu broke decisively in the sixth game of the third set. Kudryavtseva is coming off a runner-up effort in Guangzhou, China Sunday. She rallied against Amanmuradova from 5-2 down in the first-set tiebreaker to win it. In Friday's semifinals, Niculescu will face fourth-seeded Elena Vesnina of Russia, who eliminated Darya Kustova of Belarus 6-0, 6-1, while Kudryavtseva will play fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina. Rodina beat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-4, 4-6, 6
