US top seed Andy Roddick, seeking his third Memphis crown and 30th ATP title, outlasted Australian Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the RMK Championships.
Eighth-ranked Roddick fired 21 aces to win the clash of former world No. 1 players, booking a date yesterday with 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, who ousted US qualifier Michael Russell 6-4, 6-2.
Hewitt, ranked 70th, broke Roddick to open the match and twice more to take the first set, but Roddick bounced back to win in 2 hours, 13 minutes for his sixth victory in a row over the Australian, seizing his first lead in their career rivalry at 7-6.
Photo: Reuters
“He was playing better early on,” Roddick said. “He just keeps plugging away. He definitely makes you earn it if you want to get a win.”
Hewitt, who turns 30 next week, was seeking his 29th career title, his first since last year in Halle. He has not beaten Roddick since the 2005 Indian Wells semi-finals, but had a chance until Roddick seized command in the second set.
Canadians Milos Raonic, seeking his second title in two weeks, and Rebecca Marino, seeking her first WTA final, each advanced at the US$1.32 million tournament.
Photo: EPA
Raonic, a 20-year-old wild-card whose ATP San Jose crown was the first by a Canadian in 16 years, sustained his sizzling run by firing 20 aces to beat US qualifier Robert Kendrick 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
In only his ninth ATP event, Raonic was to play in yesterday’s semi-final against US fourth seed Mardy Fish, who downed defending champion Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-4.
US fifth seed Querrey double-faulted away a break in the fifth game of the second set and Fish, who skipped San Jose last week with a thyroid issue, held out from there to win in 79 minutes.
Photo: AFP
Marino, the sixth seed and the lone seed to reach the final eight, outlasted Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-1 in her first WTA semi-final.
She was to play for the title yesterday against Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who bounced Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
Rybarikova, 22, won her only prior WTA final in 2009 at Birmingham, defeating China’s Li Na for the title.
DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIPS
AP, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Caroline Wozniacki ensured she will regain the world No. 1 ranking from Kim Clijsters after beating Shahar Peer of Israel to reach the semi-finals of the Dubai Championships on Friday.
The 20-year-old Dane lost the top spot only on Monday, but she will claim it back when the new rankings are released next week after seeing off Peer 6-2, 6-4. Wozniacki will take on former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, who beat fourth-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4).
Svetlana Kuznetsova beat eighth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, and will play the 11th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy, who beat Alisa Kleybanova of Russia 6-2, 6-0.
“Of course, it’s nice to be back to No. 1,” Wozniacki said. “It’s a good feeling. I gave Kim one week. Hopefully, now I will have it for a few more weeks.”
The WTA said Wozniacki would stay at No. 1 for at least four weeks until March 20.
Wozniacki’s win on Friday ended another strong run from Peer, who two years ago was barred from playing in Dubai because of nationality.
Last year, Peer reached the semi-finals, beating Wozniacki on the way. This time, Wozniacki went up 3-0 in the first set and was never seriously challenged mostly due to the erratic play of the Israeli, who had 34 unforced errors — more than twice that of the Dane.
While Wozniacki’s match was mostly one-sided, Jankovic’s nearly three-hour affair with Stosur was probably the most entertaining of the tournament.
In the decider, Stosur went up 3-0, 4-1 and 5-3, but Jankovic kept finding a way back into the match before she eventually won the tiebreaker 7-4.
OPEN 13
AP, MARSEILLE, FRANCE
Top-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden overcame a shaky start before comfortably beating defending champion Michael Llodra 6-1, 6-4 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Open 13.
Meanwhile, Marin Cilic of Croatia upset second-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 and will next play Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, who outlasted Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
Soderling had to save four break points in a long opening service game in a rematch of last year’s quarter-final. He then broke the eighth-seeded Frenchman’s serve twice in the first set and once again in the second.
Soderling, ranked fourth in the world, hit 13 aces.
He will face Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, who beat fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
Cilic reached his first semi--final of the season as he dominated Berdych from the outset, sealing the match with a superb forehand pass down the line after a long rally.
Cilic hit 18 winners in the first set and dominated it to such an extent that he forced five break chances on Berdych’s serve — winning two — without facing a single break point himself.
Berdych had to wait until the ninth game of the second set before getting ahead on Cilic’s serve at 15-30. Cilic then saved the only break point he faced in the match at 30-40 with a looping forehand to the top of the court.
Youzhny converted his first match point when a backhand from the sixth-seeded Tsonga sailed long.
The third-seeded Russian earned a break point at 3-3 in the decider when Tsonga double faulted and converted it when the Frenchman netted a backhand volley.
Tsonga, who won in Marseille in 2009, dropped serve at 4-4 in the first set after a string of unforced errors. However, the Frenchman fought back in the second set, hitting 18 winners to only seven for Youzhny, and winning 12 of 18 points at the net.
Tursunov reached his first semi-final this season after a nagging ankle injury hampered his career in the past two years.
Tursunov, a former top 20 player, is now ranked 129th. He broke Melzer in the 10th game to take the first set. Melzer, a French Open semi-finalist, then won four straight games and held serve to rally at one set apiece, but the Russian jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third, before clinching the win.
COPA CLARO
REUTERS, BUENOS AIRES
Rain washed out most of the play on quarter-finals day at the Copa Claro on Friday, with Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela and Spanish fourth seed Albert Montanes evenly poised in a deciding third set.
The opening quarter-final had Chela 6-3, 4-6, 3-3 against Montanes, while the other three matches were all postponed to yesterday. The semi-finals were rescheduled to yesterday evening.
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