Top seed Stanislas Wawrinka fired down 17 aces on his way to beating Argentine eighth seed Guillermo Canas 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) to reach the Gstaad Open semi-finals on Friday.
The home hope was to face Romanian Victor Hanescu, who beat French qualifier Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), yesterday for a place in the final.
World No.10 Wawrinka, who now stands one victory away from a repeat of his 2005 final at this high-altitude resort, came back from a break down in the final set to force a tiebreaker.
The top seed showed his power at the right moment with two more aces on his way to clinching the two-and-a-half-hour victory.
“I was two points away from losing the match when he served for it in the third set,” Wawrinka said. “But I never got worried. I kept fighting and hoping that his level would drop, which it did.”
“In the tiebreak, I don’t think he put in one first serve. I’m not sure if there is a top 10 effect, but I’m playing with a lot of confidence. I’d rather be playing like that than not, certainly,” he said.
Wawrinka and Russian Igor Andreev, a winner over Croatian Marin Cilic, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, are the last two seeds in contention.
Third seed Mikhail Youzhny went down to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez as the Russian lost for a fifth straight match against a Spaniard, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. The 1.98m Hanescu finally has some relief half a year after chronic back problems began to clear.
“I had back problems and was out for eight or nine months in 2006,” said the one-time No.35, who reached a Roland Garros quarter-final three years ago against Roger Federer.
“But I’ve felt good for six months now,” the current number 80 said.
The 26-year-old last made an impression nearly a year ago with a final at home in Bucharest. He improved to 8-14 this season after second-round losses in Paris and Wimbledon.
■HALL OF FAME
AP, NEWPORT,RHODE ISLAND
American Vince Spadea was at his best when he needed to be on Friday, beating Austrian Alexander Peya, 7-6 (3), 7-5, to advance to the semi-finals at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Spadea was to face defending champion Fabrice Santoro yesterday after 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang was set to be inducted into the Hall of Fame during afternoon ceremonies. Santoro defeated Ivan Navarro, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Spadea’s win over Peya earned him his first trip to a semi-final since Delray Beach last year.
“I played well at the right times,” Spadea said. “I think I’m playing well enough to beat anybody in this tournament.”
The 33-year-old Spadea was broken in the first set to fall behind 4-5, but he broke back in the next game to eventually force the tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, Spadea won the first of three consecutive points by converting an overhead smash. Peya was then barely able to get a racket on Spadea’s serve on the next point, tipping the ball short.
Spadea took the tiebreaker after charging the net, forcing Peya to make a desperate forehand bid that sailed wide and closed the opening set.
In the second set, Peya broke Spadea in the third game en route to a 4-1 lead. But Spadea rallied to tie the set at 5-all and took the lead when Peya doubled faulted on consecutive points before hitting a forehand return into the net in the game’s final three points.
Spadea, of Boca Raton, Florida, closed out the match with a backhand slice at the net. His only career title was at Scottsdale in 2004.
Peya said he didn’t capitalize on the few opportunities Spadea gave him.
“I felt like [Spadea] didn’t give me too many easy chances on the important [points], and I didn’t make many,” he said.
The 35-year-old Santoro is the oldest champion in the tourney’s 32-year history. A first or second seed has not captured the title in the past 18 years.
Santoro, the second seed, scored six of the last seven points in the tiebreaker to close the match. The six-time tournament champion said he and Spadea would bring plenty of experience to their match.
“All together we’ll be almost 70 [years old] on the court,” Santoro joked. “I’ve known Vince for many years. He’s had a great career. I saw his match today. He’s playing very well.”
Prakash Amritraj was to play seventh-seeded Frank Dancevic, Canada’s top player, in the other semi-final yesterday.
■MERCEDES CUP
AP, STUTTGART, GERMANY
Second-seeded Richard Gasquet of France beat Albert Montanes of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (5) Friday at the Mercedes Cup to reach his first semi-final this year.
Gasquet, ranked 15th, saved seven of eight break points at the event, winning just before a thunderstorm flooded the court by seconds.
The 22-year-old Gasquet, who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the Australian Open, was joined by three clay-court Argentine specialists. He is now the favorite after Rafael Nadal led a host of withdrawals by top seeded players.
“There’s no pressure being the favorite, but there is still some tough competition,” Gasquet said.
Sixth-seeded Agustin Calleri will play Gasquet after dispatching Michael Berrer of Germany 6-4, 6-2 to reach his second semi-final this year.
Eduardo Schwank, the eighth seed, downed Czech player Jan Hernych 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
He will face Juan Martin del Potro, who overcame two rain delays in a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win against fourth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
■PALERMO
INTERNATIONAL
AP, PALERMO, ITALY
Four-time champion Anabel Medina Garrigues stayed on track for another Palermo International title by beating eighth-seeded Tathiana Garbin 6-0, 3-6, 6-0 in the quarter-finals on Friday.
The 31st-ranked Medina Garrigues won this clay-court event in 2001 and three straight times between 2004 and 2006.
Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta routed Georgian qualifier Margalita Chaknashvili 6-1, 6-1.
Also, No.5 Sara Errani advanced when Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain retired because of a finger injury with Errani leading 4-1 in the first set; and No.7 Mariya Koryttseva defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (4), 6-3.
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,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set