French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Morocco's Hicham Arazi 6-1, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) yesterday to advance to the Australian Open semifinals and remain in the race for the men's No. 1 ranking.
Second-seeded Kim Clijsters aggravated an ankle injury in her quarterfinal victory over Anastasia Myskina, leaving her questionable for the semifinals.
A semifinalist in all four majors last season but still without a Grand Slam title, Clijsters beat Myskina 6-2, 7-6 (9), recovering after a medical timeout in the second set to move into a semifinal match against Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.
PHOTO: EPA
Schnyder, seeded 22nd, advanced to her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 7-5 (2), 6-3 victory over Lisa Raymond.
Clijsters lost the first four games of the second set against Myskina and needed treatment for her left ankle after holding in the fifth.
"I'll have to see how it reacts," Clijsters said. "I'm going to have a week off after this anyway, so I might as well go for it and give myself a shot. But, on the other hand, if I can't walk tomorrow, it's stupid to go out there."
PHOTO: REUTERS
Clijsters won five of the next six games after getting courtside treatment in the second set and had two match points on the sixth-seeded Myskina's serve in the 12th before the Russian held to force a tiebreaker.
She had three more match points in the tiebreaker and saved two set points before the match in 90 minutes when Myskina's backhand shot drifted wide.
Clijsters, who injured her left ankle at the Hopman Cup and was sidelined for two weeks leading into the tournament, said she'd ice her ankle, take painkillers and get the area taped before deciding in the morning if she can play in the semifinal Thursday.
PHOTO: EPA
With top-seeded Andy Roddick out of the tournament in a quarterfinal upset to unseeded Marat Safin, former No. 1 Ferrero and Wimbledon champion Roger Federer are vying for the No. 1 spot in men's tennis.
Second-seeded Federer had to win his quarterfinal later Wednesday against David Nalbandian to remain in the race.
Ferrero, who won his first major at Roland Garros last year and lost the US Open final to Roddick, won seven consecutive games and gave up only nine points to lead 1-0 in the second set before the left-handed Arazi recovered and started pounding forehand winners.
Ferrero had to save three set points in the second set and two in the third before forcing tiebreakers in each. He advanced when Arazi dumped a backhand return into the net facing his first match point.
"Today was a good test, and I think I passed, I need some rest today and tomorrow," said Ferrero.
He was tired and strained muscles in his groin bothered him, but Ferrero was still intent on regaining the No. 1 ranking he held for eight weeks after Sept. 8 last season.
"I'm very motivated to get it again," he said. "I played very good today from my forehand. I think I served very well. I'm playing very good, very solid."
Both women's semifinals and one men's semifinal are scheduled for Thursday.
Top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne will face Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga, seeded 32nd, in the first of the women's semifinals, followed by Clijsters against Schnyder.
In the first men's semi, defending champion Andre Agassi was scheduled to play Safin on Thursday. Ferrero will meet the winner of the Federer vs. Nalbandian quarterfinal on Friday.
Henin-Hardenne and Clijsters met in two all-Belgian Grand Slam finals last season, with Henin-Hardenne winning in the French and US Opens.
With No. 3 Venus Williams out in the third round, Serena Williams not defending the title and No. 4 Amelie Mauresmo forced to default her quarterfinal because of a back problem, Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne were strong favorites for the title.
Clijsters said her ankle wasn't as painful as it was when she withdrew from a warmup tournament in Sydney. She said she "just sort of jammed it again."
She started with only three unforced errors as she raced for a 5-0 lead in the first set, but ended with 47 unforced errors to Myskina's 45.
"I started off really well, was feeling good ... I wish I ended like that," Clijsters said. "I had a little stumble in the second, then I got taped very tight, which kept me from making it any worse. That's maybe why I was rushing it a bit.
"I was very happy I could pull it off in two sets, otherwise it would have been hard."
Schnyder described her run to the semifinals as "enormous."
"I mean, I'm so happy to be here and to play semis ... it's hard to describe," said Schnyder, who beat 12th-seeded Paulo Suarez in the third round and Nathalie Dechy in the fourth.
Raymond, a third-round winner over Venus Williams, is 0-5 in her career against Schnyder. The 30-year-old American had 44 unforced errors and only 24 winners.
"I don't think that I've been this disappointed losing a match," Raymond said. "I really, really thought that I had a good shot of really having a breakthrough here.
Raymond's loss leaves Agassi as the only American still in contention at Melbourne Park.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS