The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Gaudio routs Lopez on way to last four

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Saturday, Apr 30, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Gaudio routs Lopez on way to last four

Dulko ousts Zheng; Dinara in semifinals

OEIRAS (PORTUGAL): Gaston Gaudio moved into the semifinals of the clay-court Estoril Open on Friday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Feliciano Lopez.

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.

Eighth-seeded Lopez, who beat Gaudio in the second round of the Paris Masters in November, again lost his serve in the opening game of the second set. He then squandered a break point in the fourth game.

Gaudio broke Lopez's serve in the seventh game and served for the match.

In other quarterfinals, fourth-seeded Tommy Robredo had little trouble against Italy's Davide Sanguinetti — who, at 32, is the tournament's oldest player — winning 6-2, 6-2.

In the women's tournament, second-seeded Dinara Safina reached the semifinals by beating American Jill Craybas 6-4, 6-2.

Argentine Gisela Dulko, the No. 3 seed, knocked out 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.

Qualifier Lucie Safarova dropped the second set against Mariana Diaz-Oliva before advancing 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Haas advances

In Munich, fourth-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany survived 19 aces from Australia's Wayne Arthurs to win 7-6(6), 7-6(5) and moved into the semifinals of the BMW Open.

Haas will now play fifth-seeded Andrei Pavel, who beat Raemon Sluiter 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

In another quarterfinal, Jarkko Nieminen rallied to defeat Michal Mertinak 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Haas is seeking to become the first German to win the clay-court event since Michael Stich triumphed 11 years ago.

Arthurs saved a break point at 3-3 in the first set, the only game 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 and Haas won the set with a backhand passing shot.

Arthurs' serve kept him in the match, but he hit a ball long to give Haas a 3-1 lead in the second tiebreaker and never recovered.

Kuznetsova in last four

At Warsaw, Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated eighth seed Silvia Farina Elia 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semifinals.

The second seed struggled early on against the 33-year-old Italian, being taken to deuce six times and having to save a break point in the opening game before failing to convert two break points in the second.

Her superior power then kicked in and she dropped just three points in the next three games to build a 4-1 lead.

An inconsistent game at 4-2, with two aces followed by a double-fault and a netted forehand, allowed Farina Elia to recover the early break but the Italian dropped her serve in the next game to leave Kuznetsova serving for the set.

A winner at the net then gave Kuznetsova a break for 1-0 in the second set and that proved to be enough to put her into her second semifinal of the year.

The results:

At Oeiras (Estoril Open): Men: Quarterfinals: Tommy Robredo bt Davide Sanguinetti 6-2, 6-2;

Gaston Gaudio bt Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-2.

Second round: Carlos Moya bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Tomas Cakl 6-1, 6-1; Davide Sanguinetti bt Albert Costa 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Women: Quarterfinals: Na Li bt Dally Randriantefy 6-3, 6-1; Dinara Safina bt Jill Craybas 6-4, 6-2; Gisela Dulko bt Jie Zheng 6-2, 6-1; Lucie Safarova bt Mariana Diaz-Oliva 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Second round: Lucie Safarova bt Michaella Krajicek 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-5.

At Munich (BMW Open): Men: Quarterfinals: Andrei Pavel bt Raemon Sluiter 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; Tommy Haas bt Wayne Arthurs 7-6(6), 7-6(5); Jarkko Nieminen bt Michal Mertinak 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Second round: Tommy Haas bt Lee Hyung-Taik 6-3, 6-4; Michal Mertinak bt Ricardo Mello 6-3, 6-0; Jarkko Nieminen bt Mario Ancic 7-6(5), 6-4; David Nalbandian bt Peter Luczak 6-2, 6-2; Wayne Arthurs bt Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(5); Juan Monaco bt Paradorn Srichaphan 7-6(12), 2-6, 6-3.

At Warsaw (J&S Cup): Women: quarterfinals): Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Silvia Farina Elia 6-3, 6-4; Ana Ivanovic bt Nathalie Dechy 7-6(2), 6-4. — Agencies

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