Caroline Wozniacki reached the final of the Dubai tennis championships by beating Serbian sixth seed Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-3 on Saturday.
The top seed from Denmark, who will return to the top of the world rankings this week, was to face 16th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in yesterday’s final after the Russian defeated 11th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-4.
Jankovic made the more positive start, breaking Wozniacki’s serve to love as she built up a 3-0 lead and then holding off two break points when leading 4-2.
Photo: EPA
However, she failed to take advantage of four set points as she led 5-3, before Wozniacki recovered the break by rushing her opponent into a forehand error.
Wozniacki broke again to lead 6-5 and held off two break points as she served out the set.
Jankovic clearly began to tire in the second set, and an exchange of three consecutive breaks left Wozniacki leading 4-3.
Once again Jankovic held, but failed to convert two break points as Wozniacki held for 5-3, and the Dane then broke to love in the next game to seal her victory.
Kuznetsova will be seeking her first Dubai title after reaching the final for the third time.
MEMPHIS CHAMPIONSHIP
REUTERS, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
Top seed Andy Roddick advanced to the Memphis Championship final with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Juan Martin Del Potro on Saturday and will face big-hitting Canadian Milos Raonic.
The 20-year-old Raonic, coming off his first tournament win last week at the San Jose Open, fired 23 aces in the earlier semi-final to beat American Mardy Fish 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Del Potro, who held serve en route to his second semi-final in two weeks, was broken by Roddick in the second game of the match as the American established a 3-0 lead in eight minutes.
Roddick, seeking the 30th title of his career, had lost his three previous matches against del Potro, but held on for the victory in 1 hour and 34 minutes.
Raonic saved five of the six break points he faced and won 85 percent of points behind his powerful first serve to dismiss Fish in just under two hours.
MARSEILLE OPEN
REUTERS, MARSEILLE, FRANCE
Top seed Robin Soderling powered into the Marseille Open final with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Dmitry Tursunov on Saturday and Marin Cilic joined him after a much sterner test.
Croatia’s unseeded Cilic survived a match point at 3-5 in the final set to outlast Russian No. 3 seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-2 1-6 7-5 to reach yesterday’s showpiece where Swede Soderling was to go for a second consecutive tour title.
Soderling won in Rotterdam last week and looks odds-on for another crown after demolishing the previously in-form Tursunov in 1 hour and 15 minutes on the indoor hardcourt.
BUENOS AIRES OPEN
REUTERS, BUENOS AIRES
Top seed Nicolas Almagro will meet Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela in the final after two wins apiece on Saturday in the rain-affected Buenos Aires Open.
Almagro followed his early afternoon quarter-final victory over Argentine wild card Jose Acasuso with a devastating performance to beat fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-1 in their evening semi-final.
Robredo, winner of the Santiago Open two weeks ago at the start of the Latin American claycourt circuit, had earlier disposed of home favorite David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-4 in a tussle of former champions.
Chela reached his first home final with a 6-2, 6-2 upset victory over second seed Stanislas Wawrinka having earlier completed a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win against Albert Montanes of Spain.
Wawrinka, the world No. 15 playing his first tournament on clay since last year’s French Open, had earlier beaten Argentine fifth seed and 2007 champion Juan Monaco 7-5, 6-3 in their quarter-final.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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