Defending champion Andy Roddick reached the semifinals at Queen's after struggling to beat Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-4, 7-6 (5) Friday at the Wimbledon tuneup event.
Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt slumped 7-6 (4), 6-3 against Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, leaving the second-seeded Roddick favorite to take the title and join Hewitt and John McEnroe as the only players to win Queen's three straight years.
Roddick will play fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek next, after the Czech ousted France's Richard Gasquet 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Karlovic meets Sweden's Thomas Johansson, who got past third-seeded Tim Henman, 6-4, 6-4.
"It feels good -- Seb's had really, really good results on the grass the last couple years," Roddick said. "It was a tough draw for both of us. I'm just excited to be through and excited that my preparation's gone well for Wimbledon."
Grosjean, who fought off five match points to defeat James Blake on Thursday, often played the crisper shots and showed greater skill at the net.
The Frenchman earned the first break point of the match at 2-2, but he made a forehand error and later lost the opening set with consecutive double-faults.
Two-time defending champion Roger Federer beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Gerry Weber Open.
Federer extended his winning streak on grass to 27 matches, the second longest in the open era after Bjorn Borg's 41 in a row from 1976 to 1981.
In other quarterfinals, second-seeded Marat Safin, still playing through knee pain, beat Olivier Rochus, 6-4, 7-6 (4) and seventh-seeded Tommy Haas defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 7-5 to set up a semifinal showdown with top-ranked Federer.
Safin will play fourth-seeded Guillermo Canas, who defeated Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-4 for a last-four berth in the 680,000-euro warmup for Wimbledon.
Federer is preparing for an attempt on a third straight Wimbledon title. Kohlschreiber was playing his first tournament on grass.
Top-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia struggled with a cold and a thigh strain but still advanced to the final of DFS Classic after beating Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.
Sharapova, who won the Wimbledon warmup last year, needed an injury time out in the second set to treat her right thigh.
"There's no problem," Sharapova said. "Next week I will have a whole week off, so there's plenty of time to recover before Wimbledon."
Wimbledon, the granddaddy of all Grand Slam events starts on June 20.
Also, fifth-seeded Tatiana Golovin of France downed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (3), and third-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia-Montenegro topped Mashona Washington of the US 6-2, 6-4.
In the other quarterfinal, American Laura Granville defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-4, 6-3.
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
RSS