Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun advanced to the final of the doubles at the Thailand Open yesterday, while Richard Gasquet credited luck and a fighting spirit as he salvaged a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen to book an all-French singles final.
Lu and his partner, Danai Udomchoke of Thailand, rallied to defeat Thai twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/5), 10-7 and set up a showdown with Eric Butorac of the US and Australia’s Paul Hanley today.
In the singles, Gasquet, the second seed playing the tournament for the first time, said he seemed destined to lose trailing the 2010 finalist and seventh seed 6-3, 4-0, before turning the tide in struggle lasting for nearly two hours.
Photo: AFP
Gasquet faces compatriot Gilles Simon, who upset top seed Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4, in the final today.
Gasquet owns a 5-0 record against his good friend.
“I thought I was going to lose for sure. I was frustrated in the first set and was playing badly, but down 4-0 I was able to start playing better,” said the 14th-ranked Gasquet, now 4-1 over Nieminen. “He got tight when he was serving for it, had a double fault and I was back in the match when I broke him. It was a huge challenge for me and I’m glad I came through, but I really thought I wouldn’t make it.”
Photo: EPA
Gasquet took control in the final set as 31-year-old Nieminen’s game went off the boil, but the Finn saved two match points in the final game on his serve, before taking the bitter loss when he sent a backhand wide.
Gasquet, a winner in Estoril and at the Toronto Masters this season, said that playing Simon would be important.
“He’s my friend and we know each other’s games well,” he said. “At least we know there will be a French winner.”
Simon, the fourth seed and the champion in 2009, said he took full advantage of a welcome state of fitness against Tipsarevic, after battling over the past few seasons with problems including knee, back and a shoulder niggle.
“Every time I go into a match feeling good, it puts pressure on me,” he said. “I feel that I need to take advantage of whatever fitness I have.”
Simon came out the better in a number of long rallies with Tipsarevic, who was aiming to win a second Asian title after claiming the honors in Kuala Lumpur a year ago, as the Frenchman maintained control throughout after starting the afternoon with a break of serve.
“I played very good today,” said Simon, who improved his head-to-head to 4-1 over the Serb ranked ninth in the world and contending for a place in the eight-man season finale in London in November.
“I don’t think I could do better. Tipsarevic has been playing amazing tennis the past two seasons and he’s hard to defeat. For me, this was almost the prefect match,” he said.
Simon is bidding to win his second title of the year after Bucharest on clay in April. The Frenchman’s win was his 38th of the season, against 20 defeats.
“It’s great to be in a final, that means another tough match, but it also means I’ve been successful this week,” Simon said. “It’s nice to be playing such good tennis again, I never know when I’m going to be feeling fit, so I have to take advantage. With my body, it’s not always easy. I can’t always count on being healthy.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
MALAYSIAN OPEN
AFP, KUALA LUMPUR
Top seed and world No. 5 David Ferrer was given a rude shock in the semi-finals of the Malaysian Open yesterday when Frenchman Julien Benneteau thrashed him in straight sets.
Ferrer, who looked sluggish from the start, had no answer to Benneteau’s power play and fell 6-4, 6-1 in 97 minutes.
Benneteau, who had lost his six previous finals this year, has the chance to break his duck today when he takes on second seed Juan Monaco in the final of the US$947,750 tournament.
Monaco was given a scare by third seed Kei Nishikori, before winning 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4).
“I was talking to my coach earlier today and told him I have not beaten a top 10 player this year,” a delighted Benneteau said. “It was a close match at the beginning, but I found my form in the second set to get the victory. I had some problems with my second serves and will have to correct that in the final.”
A disappointed Ferrer said: “I gave it my all today, but Julien was just too good.”
“I had my chances in the first set, but failed to capitalize. The second set was actually quite close, despite the score. He just took his chances to close out the match,” he said.
The semi-final started with multiple service breaks, with Ferrer guilty of committing unforced errors, before the hard-hitting Benneteau took control of the match with some punishing ground-strokes.
The normally mobile Ferrer was caught flatfooted on many occasions, but he denied his two late night matches on Thursday and Friday were the reasons behind his loss.
“I’m fine, don’t worry. Physically I have no issues and playing late matches is part of tennis,” Ferrer said. “Julien was on form today and deserved to win.”
Earlier, Monaco survived three match points before beating Nishikori in three sets.
Nishikori, who called for the trainer when he was 5-2 down in the first set, came back strongly, despite a troublesome right ankle, but he did not have enough in the tank to secure victory.
He was also a losing semi-finalist in Kuala Lumpur a year ago.
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