The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Federer stops Davydenko's run

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Sunday, May 15, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Federer stops Davydenko's run

UNSTOPPABLE: Roger Federer has it easy against Nikolay Davydenko at the ATP Masters Series tournament in Hamburg. - PHOTO: AP

HAMBURG: Defending champion and top-ranked Roger Federer beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday and will play French teenager Richard Gasquet in the final of the Hamburg Masters.

One of Federer's two losses in the last eight months came against Gasquet, who beat the Swiss star last month in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Gasquet reached his second career final by routing fellow qualifier Christophe Rochus 6-1, 6-1. Federer is chasing his sixth title of the year and his third Hamburg championship in four years. He improved his record for the year to 40-2. Going back to the beginning of last year's U.S. Open, Federer has a 56-2 record.

Federer had a slow start against the 15th-seeded Davydenko, falling behind 2-0 and facing a break point in the third game. He held serve, however, and used a sloppy game by Davydenko to break back.

``I was a little hectic in the beginning, had he broken for 3-0 it could have been problematic,'' Federer said. ``But I held serve and found my rhythm.''

Federer broke Davydenko's serve again in the sixth game to go up in the opening set. In the second, he went up 2-1 and never looked back. Federer saved two break points with big service winners and held for 5-3. A forehand winner gave him the match and a 6-0 record against Davydenko.

Confident

``I am very happy to be in the position of defending my title,'' Federer said. ``I am looking forward to the final. Qualifiers can be dangerous, but looking at my record makes me confident.''

Federer has won an Open era record 18 consecutive finals he has played since October 2003.

``I am definitely looking forward to a second chance to get him,'' Federer said of Sunday's final. ``I have more ideas now how to approach the match.''

Federer praised Gasquet, who made it to the semifinals in Monte Carlo after his upset of Federer, when he saved three match points.

``I hope it's not going to happen again. He's a very all-around player, very similar to me. He hits winners from both sides,'' Federer said.

Federer's only other loss this year came against Marat Safin in the semifinals of the Australian Open.

Paes-Zimonjic win

Leander Paes and Ninad Zimonjic rallied to upset third seed Mike and Bob Bryan of U.S. and entered the semifinals in doubles.

The Indo-Serbian, seeded sixth, lost the first set but came back strongly to beat the Bryan brothers 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 7-5 in the last eight. In another match, eighth seed Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro of France upset top seed Mark Knowles of Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada 6-4 6-4 to advance to the last four stage.

In Rome, defending champion Amelie Mauresmo reached her fifth consecutive Italian Open final on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over sixth-seeded Vera Zvonareva.

The second-seeded Mauresmo, who also beat Zvonareva in the semifinals en route to her first Italian Open title last year, improved to 7-0 in her career against the Russian.

Mauresmo cruised through the first set in just 35 minutes. She broke Zvonareva's serve to open the second set but then gave the break back with a double fault to make it 2-2. Mauresmo broke again to take a 4-3 lead and this time maintained the advantage, closing out the match with a one-handed backhand cross-court winner. Mauresmo had 20 winners to Zvonareva's 12.

The fans were solidly behind Mauresmo and often whistled at Zvonareva, who has a habit of questioning every close call.

The results:

At Hamburg (Hamburg Masters): Semifinals: Roger Federer bt Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-4; Richard Gasquet bt Christophe Rochus 6-1, 6-1. Quarterfinals: Federer bt Guillermo Coria 6-4, 7-6(3); Rochus bt Juan Ignacio Chela 3-6, 6-0, 6-3; Gasquet bt Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-2.

At Rome (Italian Open): Semifinals: Amelie Mauresmo bt Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-4.

Quarterfinals: Maria Sharapova bt Elena Bovina 6-2, 6-2; Vera Zvonareva bt Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 7-6 (7/4).

— Agencies

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