US top seed Andy Roddick fired 12 aces but it was an impressive backhand winner on Saturday that sparked his 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5) victory over Ivo Karlovic in the ATP Washington Classic semi-finals.
Roddick was to play for his 23rd career ATP title yesterday against the winner of the semi-final between France's Gael Monfils and US newcomer John Isner, who has won four third-set tie-breakers in his ATP hardcourt debut.
In the second set tie-breaker, Roddick scrambled to his left and swatted a passing backhand winner past Karlovic to grab a 6-5 lead.
PHOTO: EPA
"I just took off and made decent contact. I didn't see it hit but the crowd [cheering] let me know it was in," Roddick said. "You have to pretty much just pull the trigger. I just hit it solid and put it in."
The Croatian seventh seed netted a backhand on the next point, handing Roddick the victory after 97 minutes.
"I was lucky," Roddick said. "You just try to get something in the tie-breakers against him. It's a coin flip. It flipped for me twice today."
Roddick, who won the Washington crown in 2001 and 2005, blasted a 151mph (243kph) ace in the first set, which he won when Karlovic sent a forehand long after serving the final tie-breaker point.
"I took my chances when I had them. I didn't have many," Roddick said. "My biggest focus out there was taking care of my own serve.
Roddick, who turns 25 later this month, improved to 3-1 lifetime against Karlovic and reached his third ATP final of the year, having won at Queen's in June but lost at Memphis in February.
Roddick has never faced Isner, who is playing only his second ATP event, and is only 1-2 against Monfils. Roddick won on Lyon carpet in 2005 but lost a Rome quarter-final last year and a Poertschach quarter-final this year in straight sets.
"He whipped me a couple times on clay but that's not such a big deal," said Roddick, who also praised the fitness of the latest pupil of former Roddick coach Tarik Benhabiles.
Spanish second seed Tommy Robredo and Argentina's Jose Acasuso pulled off contrasting straight-sets victories on Saturday to reach the final of the Polish Open.
Robredo held on to beat Gilles Simon 6-3 7-6, edging out the unseeded Frenchman 7-4 in the second-set tie-break to seal the win.
Acasuso had a far more comfortable 6-1 6-2 victory over Albert Montanes of Spain in just 61 minutes.
"It was my best match this week," a beaming Acasuso told reporters. "I'm very happy because it will be my third final here."
Acasuso won the title in Sopot in 2002 and lost in the final against Rafael Nadal two years later.
Maria Sharapova used a big first serve to reach the final of the Acura Classic by defeating Anna Chakvetadze 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday, setting up a clash with Patty Schnyder.
Sharapova snapped her fellow Russian's 12-match winning streak. Chakvetadze, who has yet to beat Sharapova in five career meetings, had won successive tournaments at Cincinnati and Stanford.
"The first set was pretty competitive," Sharapova said. "I felt like once I got the first break in the second set, I felt like I was on cruise control. It was a little too easy."
Chakvetadze pressured Sharapova in the first set with numerous long rallies, but Sharapova gave away little on her serve -- Chakvetadze had just one break point in the first set, which she didn't convert.
Vera Dushevina beat German qualifier Julia Georges 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the final of the Nordic Light Open.
The eighth-seeded Russian will next play second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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