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Federer wants to make it three in a row in Basel

Britain’s Andy Murray reacts during his semi-final tennis match against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco at the St. Petersburg Open ATP tennis tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

Roger Federer was set to bid for his third consecutive title at the Swiss Indoors tournament in yesterday’s final against David Nalbandian.

In Saturday’s semi-finals, Federer dispatched Spain’s Felicano Lopez 6-3, 6-2 in 61 minutes while Nalbandian, also a former champion, needed not much longer as he beat Argentine Davis Cup teammate Juan Del Potro 6-4, 6-4.

Top seed Federer is aiming to complete a hat-trick after winning the last two editions at the event where he got his start in the game as a teenaged ballboy. Nalbandian, the 2002 champion and losing finalist the next two years, is aiming his season at the Nov. 21 to Nov. 23 Davis Cup final with Spain. But the former Wimbledon finalist would not object to Swiss success as he plays his fourth Basel final in seven editions.



■ ST PETERSBURG OPEN

AFP, SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Defending champion Andy Murray, top seed of the US$1 million St Petersburg Open, cruised on Saturday into the final, beating Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in a replay of the last year’s final.

Murray, who is fourth in the ATP rankings, won 6-0, 6-3 in one hour 14 minutes to record his fourth win over the 24-year-old Spaniard in as many meetings.

In the other semi-final, Kazakhstan’s qualifier Andrey Golubev, who stands 150th in the ATP rankings, saw off Romania’s Victor Hanescu in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 in their first ever head-to-head meeting.



■ GENERALI LADIES

AP, LINZ, AUSTRIA

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic reached her first final on Saturday since winning the French Open in June, beating No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in the semi-finals of the Generali Ladies.

The Serb was set to play yesterday against second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who routed No. 6 Marion Bartoli of France 6-0, 6-1.

It will be Ivanovic’s fourth final this season. She won in Indian Wells but lost to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open.

The fourth-ranked Ivanovic is 3-2 against Zvonareva, who will play her seventh final this season. She has also won two titles this year, in Prague and Guangzhou.

Ivanovic dominated the opening set from the baseline, but dropped serve three times in the second after facing nine breakpoints.



■ LYON GRAND PRIX

AFP, LYON, FRANCE

Sweden’s Robin Soderling and France’s Julien Benneteau were set to compete in yesterday’s ATP final following victories over Madrid finalist Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Swedish seventh seed Soderling, considered by French opponent Simon as “one of the best indoor players in the world,” won 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 while Benneteau beat Tsonga 7-6 (7/4), 7-5. Soderling, who won in Lyon in 2004, had trouble in the first set but hit back in the second and then, breaking Simon’s serve in the first game of the final set, went on to victory.

Simon, who beat world number one Rafael Nadal last week in Madrid, said: “At the beginning of the second set I felt I was losing it. I wasn’t able to return so well and I had my serve broken twice stupidly.”



■ FORTIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

AP, LUXEMBOURG

Top-seeded Elena Dementieva was set to face Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the final of the Fortis Championships yesterday.

Olympic champion Dementieva easily beat eighth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2, 6-2 in the semi-finals on Saturday.

The Russian is chasing her third title of the year.

Wozniacki secured her place in the final by defeating sixth-seeded Li Na of China 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-2.
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