The No. 8-seeded player from Houston stopped up-and-coming Ashley Harkleroad 6-3, 6-4 to earn a berth in today's semifinals at the BMW of Eugene Women's Challenger.

It was the first win over Harkleroad in three tries for the 26-year-old Washington, who will face No. 2 seed Marissa Irvin of Santa Monica, Calif., today in a 10 a.m. semifinal at the $50,000 USTA tournament at Eugene Swim & Tennis Club.

Irvin rallied to beat No. 7 Milagros Sequera of Venezuela 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to advance.

The other semifinal matches two Russians, No. 1 seed Alina Jidkova and No. 6 Evgenia Koulikovskaya. Jidkova beat Shenay Perry, a wild card from Coconut Creek, Fla., 6-3, 6-0 . Koulikovskaya beat Ukraine's Elena Tatarkova 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.

With WTA rankings of 113 and 115, respectively, the Washington-Harkleroad quarterfinal appeared to be a good matchup. But Washington came out the aggressor against the 17-year-old and Harkleroad, who was forced to play catchup after dropping the first set 6-3.

Washington broke Harkleroad's serve to take a 3-2 lead in the second set and then held serve in a game that went to deuce four times, and where Harkleroad twice held the advantage, to make it 4-2. Washington took advantage of a double fault and three unforced errors by Harkleroad to go ahead 5-2.

But Harkleroad maintained her composure and continued to slug it out with Washington, who reached match point after she put a backhand out of Harkleroad's reach.

Harkleroad stayed alive after Washington double-faulted and eventually took the game after Washington went wide on a shot and then double-faulted again. Harkleroad held serve in the next game to pull to within 5-4, then hit long, wide and into the net twice as Washington took the game and the match.

"I was more aggressive," said Washington, when asked to compare Thursday's win with her two previous losses. "Attacking her was pretty successful. She was hitting a little short, and I had to step up and hit the shot."

Jidkova was helped in the second set when Perry suffered an injury that affected her mobility.

"I tried to be more offensive than defensive," Jidkova said.