Andy Roddick turned his left ankle midway through the second set before squeezing out a 7-6 (7), 7-6 (2) victory over Robby Ginepri in the quarterfinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.
Now Roddick, the No. 3 player in the world, must wait and see if he'll be able to try for a second title in two weeks.
PHOTO: AFP
Roddick, who won last week in San Jose, hurt his ankle Friday night with the second set tied at 4-4. He used his powerful serve for 22 aces to pull out the match in the second tiebreaker and avoid a third set he might not have been able to play through.
PHOTO: EPA
"I was playing in the tiebreaker to hopefully get through and give myself a chance to compete tomorrow. I don't really know if I could've gone much more," Roddick said.
He planned to spend the night treating his ankle with ice and electric stimulation, with the hope he can play in the semifinals today. With a first-round Davis Cup match against Croatia looming on March 4-6, Roddick won't risk further injury.
"That's obviously a huge part of my season, and I have to think of my teammates as well and that aspect. That'll definitely be a concern. ... You stop and start all the time in tennis. It's not something you can really avoid out there," Roddick said.
If he can play, Roddick will meet Kenneth Carlsen of Sweden. Carlsen beat Jan-Michael Gambill 7-6 (7), 7-5 after saving three break points.
Second-seeded Tommy Haas' sore back calmed down, and he responded by beating fifth-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-4, 6-3. Haas will play eighth-seeded Max Mirnyi, a 7-6 (1), 7-6 (1) winner over Antony Dupuis of France.
In women's play, third-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy barely held off 15-year-old Nicole Vaidisova 7-6 (8), 7-6 (6), with the seventh-seeded Russian fighting off five match points in the second set before losing.
Shaughnessy will play top-seeded Vera Zvonareva, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over eighth-seeded Evgenia Linetskaya, on Saturday in the championship of the Cellular South Cup.
Roddick, who won here in 2002, found himself in a tight match even before he hurt his ankle. Ginepri didn't make it easy on Roddick as he fought off eight break points even while struggling with his own serve.
Each held serve in the first set and went to 7-7 in the tiebreaker before Roddick closed out the 53-minute set when Ginepri put a backhand into the net and was long on return of Roddick's serve.
Roddick missed a chance to break Ginepri in the ninth game of the second set at 0-40 -- the game he turned his ankle. So he served out to get to the tiebreaker where he won the first four points and closed out the match when Ginepri hit a forehand wide.
Ginepri, 0-4 in ATP matches against Roddick, said he just couldn't handle the best serve in tennis.
"I couldn't play any better, and it's tough. I played the best I could and still so far away from victory," Ginepri said.
Haas has struggled with a sore lower back problem in the past few matches, but he felt better Friday and beat Malisse, his friend from their days at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy, for the eighth time in 10 matches.
Haas had only four aces, but lost only two points on serve in the first set. He also was very patient with his second serve, converting 16 of 20 into points in the match.
"I feel like I can finally pick up the speed again on my serve without feeling any problems, and I think especially against someone like Xavier who stands back pretty far ... it's important to get a few free points, and I think it worked good today," Haas said.
Mirnyi reached his third semifinal this year, using his serve effectively with 18 aces and scoring off 90 percent of his first serves. Dupuis had four chances to break Mirnyi's serve and couldn't do it.
Venus Williams ended the comeback run of former No. 1 Kim Clijsters, beating the local favorite 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Williams needed barely an hour to defeat Clijsters and stayed on course to win the 1 million euro (US$1.3 million) gem encrusted racket at the WTA event. The first person to win the competition three times in a five-year span gets to keep the Diamond Games trophy.
Williams, ranked eighth in the world, won the first two editions of the event before skipping last year's competition because of a knee injury. Clijsters won the event last year.
The third-seeded Williams will play in Saturday's semifinal against second-seeded Anastasia Myskina of Russia, who beat Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo came back from a set down to beat Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and set up a semifinal clash against Alicia Molik. Fourth-seeded Molik of Australia beat Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 earlier Friday.
The Diamond Games was Clijsters' last WTA tournament win. She has been troubled by a wrist injury since.
France's Mauresmo, the world's No. 2 player, was slow and prone to errors against Schnyder early on, and the No. 7 seed profited by taking the first set.
"I was nervous and had no patience," Mauresmo said.
The Frenchwoman improved as the match progressed. She wore Schnyder down and used her experience to prevail in just over 1 1/2 hours.
Mauresmo will be aiming to reach her second final in two weeks. Last week, she lost the final of the Gaz de France, her home tournament in Paris, to Dinara Safina of Russia.
Top-seeded Roger Federer advanced to the semifinals, defeating sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 7-5.
He will face Croatia's Mario Ancic -- who ousted him from Wimbledon in 2002. Ancic upset Tim Henman 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) in another quarterfinal.
In the first set, Federer showcased a range of weapons -- including one leaping backhand volley -- and challenged Davydenko's service several times. But both players held serve until the 11th game, when Federer finally broke.
In the second set, both players were equal from the baseline. Davydenko had good chances in the third and 11th games, but was unable to capitalize on five break points.
Federer seized his chance, breaking in the 12th to finish the match.
Henman was inconsistent with his serve, and got behind in both tiebreakers before losing to the 20-year-old Ancic.
Earlier, another Croat, Ivan Ljubicic, advanced by rallying from a set down to defeat Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Ljubicic faces Sweden's Thomas Johansson, who beat the Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Unseeded Alberto Martin of Spain crushed Australia's Peter Luczak 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the final of the US$380,000 tournament.
Martin will face the winner of the semifinal between Spain's Rafael Nadal and Brazilian Ricardo Mello, who square off later Friday night.
The top two seeds advanced to the semifinals in straight sets -- Fabiola Zuluaga downed fellow Colombian Catalina Castano 6-2, 6-1, and Flavia Pennetta of Italy eliminated Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1.
Zuluaga, the No. 1 seed and ranked 24th in the world, ousted Castano on the fourth match point with a sharp serve out wide to Castano's backhand that was returned long. After pressuring Zuluaga in long rallies in the first set, Castano crumbled in the second, committing several double faults and having her serve broken twice.
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