Defending champion Fabrice Santoro advanced to the final of the Hall of Fame Championships by beating Vince Spadea 7-6 (4), 6-1 on Saturday.
The matchup between the 35-year-old Santoro and 33-year-old Spadea was the oldest combined ages in a semi-final on the ATP tour since 1993, when 31-year old Brad Gilbert beat 40-year old Jimmy Connors in San Francisco.
Santoro, the second seed and oldest champion on Newport’s grass courts in the 31-year history of the tournament, was due to face Prakash Amritraj yesterday.
PHOTO: AP
Amritraj, a wild card entry, upset seventh-seeded Frank Dancevic of Canada 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 in the other semi-final.
Amritraj was watched by his father, Vijay, who won the Newport title three times and became the first Indian to reach an ATP final since 1998 at Newport, when Leander Paes won the title.
Santoro, looking for his sixth career title, relied on a variety of two-handed cuts, slices and drops to reach his first ATP final since Newport last year.
PHOTO: EPA
“You just have to prepare hard,” Spadea said. “You’re playing an unorthodox style. I think I played well early and just didn’t continue it.”
In the second set, Santoro moved Spadea from side to side, dropping both two-handed forehand and backhand shots around the court. But it was a one-handed, reaching backhand that he barely flipped from the grass over the net that closed the match.
“I don’t make that one very often,” Santoro said.
■HANESCU FOILS HOPES
AFP, GSTAAD, SWITZERLAND
Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka missed his chance of a second Gstaad Open final on Saturday in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 loss to Victor Hanescu.
The Romanian outsider ranked 80th after several seasons plagued by back injuries, fought back from a break down against the world No.10 in the final set.
Hanescu had to wait until yesterday to discover his opponent the final.
Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and seventh seed Igor Andreev of Russia — 2004 finalist in Gstaad against Roger Federer — were level at a set each, 6-7 (2/7), 7-5 when play was suspended for the day because of rain. Hanescu was looking to capture his first ATP title and become the first Romanian to win the Gstaad title since Ilie Nastase in 1973.
In two previous matches on the Gstaad clay, Wawrinka, who reached two finals last year in Stuttgart and Vienna, has needed three sets to advance.
“I missed my chances, this is very disappointing,” said Wawrinka, who will now have to resurrect his form beginning in just over a week at the Montreal Masters. “When I had the lead I was unable to maintain my level.”
Hanescu, who last played a final in September at home in Bucharest, said his goal now after several seasons of back problems is to “stay healthy.”
“I hope to finish inside the top 100 this season. Playing a top 10 player was difficult but I kept my confidence. You never know on this high-altitude clay, anything can happen,” he said.
Wawrinka paid the price for yet another slow start, going down an early break to trail Hansecu 2-5 in the first set. The Swiss held for 3-5 but was unable to stop the Romanian’s momentum.
Hanescu, who turns 27 next week and has a best at the Grand Slams of reaching the 2005 French Open quarter-finals, fired his fifth ace for two set points and took it 6-3 after 32 minutes. Wawrinka put his game right against his 1.98m opponent, saving a break point in the opening game of the second, then the 23-year-old broke on the way to 3-0. A backhand winner solved any problems to hand Wawrinka a 5-2 margin, with the Swiss squaring at a set each on his 21st winner of the second set. A dramatic momentum shift in the sixth game of the third left Wawrinka stranded as he lost his early break after saving four break points before falling to 3-3. Hanescu clinched victory four games later after Wawrinka saved two match points with winners before putting a backhand long to lose.
■TOP SEED CRASHES OUT
AP, PALERMO, SICILY
Four-time champion Anabel Medina Garrigues and top-seeded Flavia Pennetta were ousted in straight sets in the semi-finals of the Palermo International on Saturday.
Second-seeded Medina Garrigues, champion in 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006, fell to No. 7-seeded Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2.
Koryttseva will play in her first final of the year, and second of her career, against fifth-seeded Sara Errani, who downed Italian compatriot Pennetta 7-5, 6-3.
Pennetta had won their only previous matchup last year, but Errani has improved 150 spots in the rankings since then to 60th.
Koryttseva and Errani were due to play for their first WTA title yesterday.
■CORNET CRUSHES ARN
AP, BUDAPEST
Alize Cornet won six straight games after losing her opening service game to defeat Hungary’s Greta Arn 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday in the Budapest Grand Prix.
In yesterday’s final, the second-seeded Frenchwoman was due to face Andreja Klepac of Slovenia, who outlasted Karolina Sprem of Croatia 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
Temperatures on the court in both matches reached 38ºC.
Arn again won the first game in the second set but Cornet’s relentless play was once more too much for the Hungarian.
“It was not as easy as the score suggests,” Cornet said. “Greta played well but I won because I focused on every point, which was not easy in this heat.”
Sprem took a 3-0 lead in the third set before Klepac won five games in a row.
■DEL POTRO DELIVERS
AP, STUTTGART,GERMANY
Juan Martin del Potro defeated eighth-seeded Argentine compatriot Eduardo Schwank 6-2, 6-4 in Saturday’s semi-finals of the Mercedes Cup to earn his first career final against Richard Gasquet of France.
Gasquet, seeded second and the highest-ranked player at No. 15, overcame another Argentine, Agustin Calleri, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3.
The Frenchman led 5-2 in the first set but allowed Calleri to come back and win the tiebreaker. Struggling with a sore right shoulder, Calleri had no challenge left when he again fell behind 5-2 in the second.
Gasquet advanced to his first final of the year, after making only one quarterfinal earlier in the season. In his only previous match against del Potro, Gasquet won in two sets at last year’s Masters event in Indian Wells.
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