Three Americans are in the semi-finals of the RCA Championships for the first time since 1992.
Top-seeded James Blake, second-seeded Andy Roddick and defending champion Robby Ginepri all advanced with straight-sets victories on Friday. Ninth-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium, who will play Blake in Saturday's semi-finals, also won his quarter-final in two sets.
Blake, who is a career-high sixth in the ATP rankings, had the biggest challenge. He won two tiebreakers to get past 10th-seeded Nicolas Mahut of France 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5).
PHOTO: AP
Mahut, ranked No. 70, won the first two points of the second tiebreaker. Blake took the next two points and went on to win the match when his 31st winner hit the backcourt line.
"I can't think of any better ending than that one, anything could happen if I miss that," Blake said. "At 5-6, I knew he was going to go to my backhand, because my forehand return is better."
The last time three Americans were in the semifinals here it was Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Todd Martin.
PHOTO: AFP
"That brings a big smile to my face. That's pretty good company to be in. ... They keep saying US tennis is down, but we had someone in the finals of every event of last year's US Open Series and now we're on the way to doing it again," Blake said.
Roddick defeated 12th-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-3. Fourth-seeded Ginepri cruised past No. 8 Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4, 6-1. Ginepri also beat Paradorn en route to winning the tournament last year.
Malisse advanced with an upset of third-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Roddick, the 2003 and 2004 champion here, had 19 winners and five unforced errors to avenge his upset loss to Muller in the first round of the US Open last year.
"He broke my heart last year," Roddick said.
The former world No. 1 credited Jimmy Connors with helping him prepare for the tournament.
"I feel like I played some good stuff here this week," Roddick said. "Jimmy knows so much about the game. I'm appreciative that he would give me some of his time. It was really good of him."
Roddick, who had the fastest serve of the tournament so far at 233kph, lost six points on his serve. Three of them came on the opening three points of his first service. Roddick then held by winning five consecutive points.
"With the exception of that first service game, I felt I was in every game. I didn't miss a lot of returns. I felt it was a solid effort," he said.
The victory gave Roddick a 15-1 record at Indianapolis. His only loss here was to Ginepri in last year's quarter-finals.
Ginepri lost seven points on his eight service games against Paradorn and was hoping his trip to Indianapolis turns around a season in which he has lost in the first round of 14 tournaments.
Ginepri said he was surprised by the ease of his victory.
"I don't know if he was sick or what," Ginepri said. "He definitely wasn't playing like he can."
Jesper Boqvist on Tuesday scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight NHL Stanley Cup banner, opened the defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Mackie Samoskevich — getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career — chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left. A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, who got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Monday said that he was playing “terrible tennis” after he was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters by France’s Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. His exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the tournament’s top-ranked player, increasing the 38-year-old Serb’s chances of winning a record-extending fifth title in the Chinese financial hub. In stifling conditions, world No. 54 Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission. It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year. A despondent Zverev told reporters the match had
Mexico’s teenage playmaker Gilberto Mora has lit up the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile as he basks in the limelight afforded by the absences of Barcelona and Real Madrid stars Lamine Yamal and Franco Mastantuono. “I don’t know if I’m the biggest star, and I’m not really interested in that. I think you can always give more,” 16-year-old Mora said before Mexico’s 4-1 win against host nation Chile in the round-of-16 on Tuesday, in which he provided the assist for the opening goal. Next on Mora’s schedule is a quarter-final clash against Argentina this morning Taiwan time, but after
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Nathan Lukes hit a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto’s 12 hits as the Blue Jays bounced back After taking down the storied New York Yankees in their own ballpark in their American League Division Series on Wednesday, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider was ready to revel in the triumph. “Start spreading the news,” Schneider said while popping a bottle of bubbly to set off the Blue Jays’ jubilant celebration inside their Yankee Stadium clubhouse. With the party under way, the familiar lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s version of New York, New York — the Yankees’ long-time victory anthem — sounded in the background as roaring Toronto players sprayed each other with booze in the Bronx. This time, it was their
RSS