The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Roddick enters Queen's final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 17, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Roddick enters Queen's final

— Photo: AP

LION-HEARTED: Marcos Baghdatis continued his impressive form on grass defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semifinals of the ATP tournament in Halle.

LONDON: Andy Roddick reached his fourth ATP Stella Artois Championships (Queen's) final when he beat Russia's Dmitry Tursunov in the battle of the big servers on Saturday.

Roddick, who won three consecutive titles from 2003 to 2005, now has a chance to equal the record for the most singles titles at the Wimbledon warm-up thanks to his 6-4, 7-5 victory.

He will now face Nicolas Mahut, who knocked out Arnaud Clement in the semifinals and the French Open champion Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, for the title on Sunday.

Rain had delayed the start of the match for nearly three hours, but Roddick, who holds the world record fastest serve, showed no signs of being affected when the covers finally came off as he dominated from start to finish.

On Friday, French Open champion Rafael Nadal suffered a rare taste of defeat as unseeded Nicolas Mahut sent him packing in the quarterfinals.

Nadal was well below his best as Mahut set up an all-French semifinal against Arnaud Clement with an impressive 7-5, 7-6(0) victory over the top-seed.

Nadal remains less than comfortable on grass and Mahut took advantage as he savoured the best day of his career. Mahut, ranked 106th in the world, had beaten fifth seed Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(3), 6-3 to reach his first quarterfinal of the season and was back on court just hours later.

Baghdatis in final

Meanwhile, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis is on course to celebrate his 22nd birthday on Sunday by winning the ATP Halle tournament title after he beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets in the semifinals.

Baghdatis, seeded eight, will face last year's finalist and fourth seed Tomas Berdych in Sunday's final with the 96,000 euros winner's cheque at stake after his 7-6(1), 6-4 win on Saturday.

Baghdatis, 18th on the ATP world rankings, made light work of beating his opponent.

Having powered his way into a 3-0 first set lead, Baghdatis weathered Kohlschreiber's recovery to level the match at 6-6, but the Cypriot was clearly fired up enough to lead the tie-break 5-0 before winning 7-1.

The 23-year-old German hit back with three aces in the third set, but Baghdatis — who has been impressive on grass all week — was just too strong and was always in control to win the second set with an ace.

"It would be a great birthday present," said Baghdatis if he can pick up his third ATP title.

Maria Sharapova lost a set but recovered to beat Tamira Paszek 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the third round of the DFS Classic on Saturday.

The results:

At Halle: ATP Gerry Weber Open (semifinals): Tomas Berdych bt Jarko Nieminen 7-6(5), 6-4; Marcos Baghdatis bt Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6(1), 6-4.

At London: ATP Stella Artois Championships (semifinals): Nicolas Mahut bt Arnaud Clement 6-3, 7-6(4); Andy Roddick bt Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-5. Quarterfinals: Arnaud Clement bt Ivo Karlovic 7-5, 6-4; Nicolas Mahut bt Rafael Nadal 7-5, 7-6(0).

At Birmingham: WTA Tour DFS Classic (quarterfinals): Jelena Jankovic bt Alona Bondarenko 6-4, 6-3; Mara Santangelo bt Li Na 6-2, 7-5. Third round: Maria Sharapova bt Tamira Paszek 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Daniela Hantuchova bt Eleni Daniilidou 7-6(3), 6-4.

At Barcelona: WTA Barcelona KIA Open (final): Meghann Shaughnessy bt Edina Gallovits 6-3, 6-2. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport