Last week, Svetlana Kuznetsova mounted an inspired quarterfinal run in Stuttgart that included an upset over world No. 5 Simona Halep.  This week, she faced a test that has baffled the two-time major champion for much of her mercurial career:  building on recent success.  Kuznetsova has passed the test this time with flying colors, however, advancing to her first semifinal of 2014 in Portugal.

This achievement has come at the expense of some talented opponents, especially her opponent on Thursday.  Kuznetsova scored her second win in two weeks over a top-20 opponent by dominating second seed Eugenie Bouchard.  The young Canadian struggled to land her first serve throughout the match and faced 15 break points in two sets.  Although Kuznetsova pounced only five of those opportunities, they were more than enough to earn a comfortable straight-sets victory.  She next will face Elena Vesnina in an all-Russian semifinal.  Kuznetsova will hold the fitness edge in that encounter, for Vesnina has survived consecutive three-set epic in her last two Portugal matches.

Just as dominant as the former Roland Garros champion today were the top two men's seeds at this small joint event.  Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic, both ranked inside the top 10, outclassed their initial opponents in Portugal while losing just five games apiece.  An upset of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez by local favorite Gastao Elias also may have boosted Berdych's hopes, for he had lost to Garcia-Lopez in Monte Carlo.  Top women's seed Carla Suarez Navarro also continues to cruise through the draw, having yielded just seven games in six sets.  Suarez Navarro never has won a WTA title, but she now stands two victories from that breakthrough.

In Munich, meanwhile, defending champion and home hope Tommy Haas prevailed in his first ATP match after turning 36.  The evergreen German dismissed South American clay specialist Alejandro Falla as he entered the court for the first time since Indian Wells.  A shoulder injury has dogged Haas for much of this season, so his compatriots must have felt elated to see him return.  The greatest challenge to his title defense this week may come from top seed Fabio Fognini, who looks to rebound from desultory exits in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.  Fognini began his Munich campaign on a high note by weathering the idiosyncratic assault of Dustin Brown in straight sets.