Mardy Fish of the US advanced to the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships final by beating British qualifier Richard Bloomfield 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 on Saturday.
Fish will play No. 4 seed Olivier Rochus of Belgium, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Brian Dabul of Argentina.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The fifth-seeded Fish will be in his second ATP final of the season and will attempt to capture his fourth career title. He lost to countryman Sam Querrey at Queen’s Club last month. Fish was ranked 79th entering the week.
Rochus, ranked 65th entering the week, is playing in his eighth career ATP final.
“He’s a great player. He went to the final at Queen’s,” Rochus said of Fish. “He’s a good player on grass. I’m here in the final. I have nothing to lose against Mardy. It’s going to be a very difficult match.”
Fish and Bloomfield played after Australia’s Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde — the “Woodies” — headed a class of seven inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame during a ceremony on center court.
Bloomfield faulted on eight of nine serves when he was broken in the ninth game of the second set. Fish closed it out to love in the final game.
Fish held serve to love in four of five games in the second set.
Bloomfield was 1-10 in his career before Newport’s grass courts.
“It’s been a great week, a fun week. I’ll remember it forever,” he said.
■SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, SWEDEN
Aravane Rezai won her second title of the year after defeating Gisela Dulko 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Swedish Open final on Saturday.
The Frenchwoman prevailed in 2 hours, 15 minutes to claim her fourth career title.
Rezai cruised to the final of the clay-court tournament without losing a set, but the Argentine pushed her all the way in an entertaining, but error-strewn final on center court.
“I didn’t play very well at the end of the second set and she kept fighting,” Rezai said. “She showed that she can run everywhere and play well and try to break my rhythm.”
Rezai overcame nine double-faults to beat Dulko, who had downed top seed Flavia Pennetta to make it to the final.
Rezai, who beat Venus Williams to win the Madrid Open in May, won the first set comfortably after breaking Dulko’s serve twice.
Dulko responded by breaking Rezai in the first game of the second and twice again to win the set on a warm day in southern Sweden.
Rezai opened a 4-0 lead in the third, but was taken to 5-4 before breaking Dulko’s serve for the fourth time in the set to win the title.
■BUDAPEST GRAND PRIX
AP, BUDAPEST
Home favorite Agnes Szavay will defend her title against Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder in the final of the Budapest Grand Prix.
The encounter will be an encore of last year’s final, which saw Szavay win her first title in her homeland and her third on the WTA Tour.
In Saturday’s semi-finals, the seventh-seeded Szavay upset second seed Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-1, 5-7, 7-5, while Schnyder defeated qualifier Zuzana Ondraskova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
“It was a very long match and the weather was very hot. Despite that, I feel I can do my best tomorrow, as well,” Szavay said.
Schnyder will be attempting to win her 12th title and her first since Bali in 2008.
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