TORONTO (AP) -- Anastasia Myskina defeated Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-4, 7-5 Friday despite a splint on her sprained left ankle and advanced to the Rogers Cup semifinals.
Myskina, seeded ninth, will next meet Kim Clijsters, the seventh-seeded Belgian who routed Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-0, 6-1.
Myskina turned her ankle during the second set Thursday. The Russian hobbled to the sidelines in tears in her match against Shinobu Asagoe, had her ankle taped and returned to win 7-6 (5), 7-5. Myskina underwent treatment late into Thursday night, with more therapy Friday morning.
"Some moves it really bothers me, but some of them were OK,'' Myskina said. "I didn't really think that Gisela played really smart with me today, so that was big advantage for me. Definitely, the drop shot was the key, but she didn't use it.''
Dulko broke serve to tie it 4-4 in the second set and then held to take the lead. Myskina responded by winning three straight games for the victory.
"My coach even said that I played well,'' Myskina said. "That's really new. I'm really happy with that.''
Dulko, ranked 35th, defeated third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round. Kuznetsova, the defending U.S. Open champion, hurt her back in the first set.
Clijsters barely had time to break a sweat against Pennetta, ousting the No. 30-ranked player in 41 minutes. Clijsters clearly will pose a bigger challenge for Myskina.
"She's a great tennis player,'' Myskina said. "Whatever she's doing on the court, she's doing amazing. Especially the way she moves on the court, it's just unbelievable.''
Myskina's injury is the latest to hit the tournament. No. 1-seeded Maria Sharapova (chest muscle), No. 8 Mary Pierce (thigh), No. 5 Serena Williams (knee) and No. 12 Ana Ivanovic (chest) withdrew this week. Last week, Venus Williams (flu), Alicia Molik and Elena Bovina (shoulder) dropped out.