Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne reached the semifinals of the J&S Cup on Friday, moving closer to a championship match between the two former top-ranked Belgians.
Seventh-seeded Clijsters beat Russia's Elena Bovina 7-6 (4), 6-3, while Henin-Hardenne downed No. 4 Patty Schnyder 6-1, 6-2.
In the other quarterfinals, Ana Ivanovic defeated Nathalie Dechy of France 7-6 (2), 6-4, and No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Italy's Silvia Farina Elia 6-3, 6-4.
PHOTO: AFP
In today's semis, Klijsters will play Kuznetsova and Henin-Hardenne will face Ivanovic.
The two Belgian stars both recently returned after long injury layoffs. Clijsters won tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami, while Henin-Hardenne won the Charleston title.
Clijsters led Bovina 4-2 in the first set before the Russian rallied to force a tiebreaker. In the second set, Clijsters dropped her serve when leading 4-2, but broke with a forehand winner down the line and served out the match for here 17th straight victory.
"My serve was too inconsistent," Clijsters said. "I was feeling a few aches in my shoulder. I don't know if that was why I wasn't serving as well today."
The unseeded Henin-Hardenne beat Schnyder in an hour.
After dominating the opening set, Henin-Hardenne was broken twice at the start of the second. She broke straight back each time and won five games in a row to close out the match.
Fourth-seeded Tommy Haas withstood 19 aces Friday to beat the Australia's Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) for a place in the BMW Open semifinals.
Haas will next play fifth-seeded Andrei Pavel, who beat Raemon Sluiter Raemon Sluiter 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Top-seeded David Nalbandian cruised past Juan Monaco 6-0, 6-4 to set up a semifinal against Jarkko Nieminen, who rallied to defeat Michal Mertinak 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Haas is the only German player to have made it past the first round in the 323,250 euros (US$420,000) event. A finalist in Munich in 2000, he is seeking to become the first home player to win the clay-court event since Michael Stich 11 years ago.
Arthurs saved a break point at 3-3 in the first set, the only time he had trouble on his serve.
A serve-and-volley player whose game is ill-suited for the slow red clay, Arthurs squandered a 4-2 lead in the first tiebreaker.
He used his reach to put away a fierce volley for 5-4, but Haas managed to come back and used a backhand passing shot on his first set point to go one set up.
Arthurs' serve kept him the match but he hit a ball long to give Haas a 3-1 lead in the second tiebreaker and never recovered.
Haas hit a service winner to gain three match points. Arthurs saved two, then put an easy backhand into the net to send the German into the last four.
Carlos Moya of Spain beat France's Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-2 to move into the semifinals of the clay-court Estoril Open.
Argentina's Gaston Gaudio also advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Feliciano Lopez.
Tommy Robredo downed Davide Sanguinetti by the same score, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez made it a trio of Spaniards in the last four by knocking out Juan Antonio Marin 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.
Top-seeded Moya, looking more assured than he did in his three-hour second-round match against Juan Carlos Ferrero, broke Mathieu's serve in the fifth game on his way to taking the first set.
Mathieu had defeated Moya on the hard outdoor surface at the Chennai Open three months ago.
The Frenchman lost his serve on a double fault in the third game of the second set.
French Open champion Gaudio, seeded second, broke his opponent's serve in the opening game of the first set before taking a 5-1 lead. Lopez made 16 unforced errors in the 25-minute set.
In other quarterfinals, fourth-seeded Tommy Robredo had little trouble against Italy's Davide Sanguinetti who, at 32, is the tournament's oldest player.
In the women's tournament, second-seeded Dinara Safina reached the semifinals by beating American Jill Craybas 6-4, 6-2.
Argentina's Gisela Dulko, seeded third, beat ninth-seeded Jie Zheng of China 6-2, 6-1, while fourth-seeded Na Li took less than an hour to overcome Dally Randriantefy of Madagascar, 6-3, 6-1.
BIG NAMES GONE: Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title, reaching semi-finals for the fifth time in six years and finishing second on three occasions Alexander Zverev on Tuesday breezed past Rafael Jodar to stay on course for an elusive Grand Slam title at the French Open, while Jakub Mensik halted Joao Fonseca’s scintillating run in the quarter-finals. Zverev, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw, put an end to Spanish teenager Jodar’s impressive Roland Garros debut, easing into the semi-finals with a 7-6, (7/3), 6-1, 6-3 win. The 29-year-old Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title. He has finished runner-up on three occasions, including at the 2024 French Open. “I want to win the matches that are ahead of
Taiwanese tennis star Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles at the French Open, after she and German partner Mark Wallner defeated Slovenian Andreja Klepac and Briton Lloyd Glasspool in straight sets, despite temperatures exceeding 32°C in Paris, while Taiwan’s top men’s doubles player Ray Ho also reached the second round. Hsieh, who made it to the semi-finals in the mixed doubles at Roland Garros in 2024, and Wallner defeated Klepac and Glasspool 6-3, 7-5 in just more than an hour, converting three of five break points, while holding their opponents to just one conversion
For some, Cristiano Ronaldo remains the essential spearhead for Portugal’s FIFA World Cup bid, while others believe his presence would prevent Roberto Martinez’s strong side from flourishing. The debate around the five-time Ballon d’Or winner rages on, as it did at UEFA Euro 2024 and four years ago in Qatar — yet Ronaldo endures, ready to play in a record sixth World Cup. The 41-year-old remains a global superstar despite swapping the European elite for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr, and is the leading men’s international goalscorer with 143 strikes. With 25 of those coming in 30 games under Martinez, the coach
FAST AND LOOSE: Despite command struggles, Ohtani has pitched his way out of trouble after falling behind in counts, which manager Roberts credited to his velocity Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday night tossed six innings of no-hit ball, gave himself an early lead with a home run and still was not satisfied with his performance. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way superstar dropped some expletives that were picked up by the on-field mic as he struggled with his command in a 4-1 win over the Colorado Rockies. He struck out seven, walked four and gave up an earned run in the fourth inning while visibly fuming on the mound. Ohtani (5-2) earned his third consecutive victory. “Just command was off, and I just felt like I was battling the lack of
RSS