The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Lee ousts Ljubicic; Ancic in last four

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Saturday, Sep 16, 2006
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Lee ousts Ljubicic; Ancic in last four

BEIJING: Top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic stumbled out of the China Open on Friday after suffering an upset 6-3, 7-6(3) quarterfinals loss to South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik.

Ljubicic peppered Lee with 12 aces at Beijing Tennis Centre, but the Korean No. 8 kept his nerve. After dominating the first set, Lee held out a resurgent Ljubicic to book his semifinal spot.

Lee will next face fourth-seeded Mario Ancic after the Croatian recovered from a poor start to grind out a hard fought 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty.

After losing the first set, Ancic fought off three break points in the second to force the tie-breaker and level the match.

Ancic, who has been sidelined since Wimbledon due to an off-court injury, found his rhythm in the third set and closed out the game with an ace.

Ancic slammed 13 aces against two for Hrbaty, who conceded eight double faults.

Later, U.S. Open semifinalist Nikolay Davydenko was unable to continue against Asia's top player, Paradorn Srichaphan, quitting at 6-2, 1-0 after 32 minutes on court.

Kuznetsova advances

At Bali, top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova maintained her perfect record at the Wismilak International when she beat Severine Brimond 6-3, 6-2 on Friday.

The Russian, champion in 2002 and 2004, now stands 11-0 at the tropical resort venue, where she earned her first title a week after lifting the U.S. Open two years ago.

Kuznetsova, the World No. 5, will face American Lindsay Davenport on Saturday in a battle of former Grand Slam champions.

Davenport, the defending champion and former World No. 1, defeated Hana Sromova 6-1, 6-0 in a match where the Czech's unorthodox, no-rhythm game caused her little concern.

The results (all quarterfinals):

At Beijing (ATP China Open): Mario Ancic bt Dominik Hrbaty 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4; Hyung Taik Lee bt Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 7-6(3); Paradorn Srichaphan bt Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 1-0 (retd.); Marcos Baghdatis bt Danai Udomchoke 6-2, 6-1.

At Bali (WTA Wismilak International): Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Severine Bremond 6-3, 6-2; Lindsay Davenport bt Hana Sromova 6-1, 6-0; Marion Bartoli bt Olga Poutchkova 6-2, 6-4; Patty Schnyder bt Melinda Czink 6-2, 6-2.

At Bucharest (ATP BCR Open): Jurgen Melzer bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 6-2; Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-4; Florent Serra bt Florian Mayer 6-3, 7-6(5); Filippo Volandri bt Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-3. — Agencies

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