|
|
|
| October 5, 2002 | Saturday | Rajab 27, 1423 |
Srichaphan registers biggest win of his career
TOKYO, Oct 4: Thai star Paradorn Srichaphan pulled off the biggest win in his career when he knocked current world number one Lleyton Hewitt out of the Japan Open tennis tournament Friday.
Srichaphan won 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
The women’s singles also lost top seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan, who bowed to Silvija Talaja of Croatia 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 3-6, leaving second seed Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand as the only remaining seed.
Tamarine overcame a second-set lapse to beat Alicia Molik of Australia 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, to set up a semifinal match against American Jill Craybas.
Craybas breezed past Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-2, 6-1, while her compatriot Sarah Taylor took the remaining place by beating Japan’s Yuka Yoshida 6-4, 6-2.
Paradorn will take on Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, the winner over Anthony Dupuis of France 6-3, 6-2, while the other semifinals will be played between Magnus Norman of Sweden and American Vincent Spadea.
“It’s gonna be another big, big news again (in Thailand), it could be the biggest, bigger than when I beat (Andre) Agassi at Wimbledon, because he’s number one in the world. I can’t walk on the streats,” said Paradorn.
Paradorn, who shocked former French Open champion Michael Chang in the first round twice in a row earlier in the year, caused a sensation when he shocked Agassi in the second round at Wimbledon.
Paradorn said when he lost to Hewitt after missing several match points at San Jose, he could not sleep for three nights. But he said he learned from that experience to cope with the situation.
Norman continued his attempt to comeback from a left hip injury and reached the sem-finals for the first time in 15 months when he defeated fellow Swede Magnus Larsson 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.
“Of course I’m happy,” said Norman, who survived the qualifying rounds here and has gone on to stun second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain and American 16th seed Taylor Dent.
Men’s singles quarterfinals: Magnus Norman bt Magnus Larsson 7-6 (7/5), 7-5; Paradorn Srichaphan bt Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 6-3; Kenneth Carlsen bt Anthony Dupuis 6-3, 6-2; Vincent Spadea bt Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-0
Women’s singles quarterfinals: Sarah Taylor bt Yuka Yoshida 6-4, 6-2; Jill Craybas bt Jelena Kostanic 6-2, 6-1; Silvija Talaja bt Ai Sugiyama 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3; Tamarine Tanasugarn bt Alicia Molik 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
KAFELNIKOV ON TARGET
MOSCOW: Yevgeny Kafelnikov kept alive his hopes of a record-breaking sixth consecutive Kremlin Cup Friday with a 6-3 7-5 victory over French qualifier Cyril Saulnier.
The Russian booked his place in Saturday’s semifinal against seventh-seeded Dutch Sjeng Schalken and now is two wins away from becoming the only player in the Open era to win a tournament for six years running.
After taking the first set in 32 minutes, Kafelnikov had to dig into his reserves as he battled back from 2-5 down to reel off five consecutive games to secure his 28th consecutive Kremlin Cup victory since losing in the 1996 final to Goran Ivanisevic.
It was mixed day for French players.
In the women’s tournament, France’s fourth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo beat Slovenia’s Maja Matevzic 7-6 6-3 while men’s qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu eliminated German Rainer Schuttler 4-6 6-2 6-3.
But in addition to Saulnier, France’s Nathalie Dechy lost to Bulgaria’s Magdalena Maleeva 6-4 6-2 in the women’s event while compatriot Nicolas Escude was beaten by Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 6-4 6-7 6-3 in the men’s tournament.
At the end of a tight first set, Mauresmo run away with the tiebreak 7-1 before overpowering Matevzic who was hampered by a back injury.
Matevzic received medical attention on three consecutive change-overs in the second set.
Mauresmo also thought the injury had little effect on Matevzic.
South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer, who eliminated defending champions Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia in the second round, beat Russian Nadia Petrova 6-2 6-1 in the first quarter-final.
Petrova, who disposed of former world number one Martina Hingis in the first round before getting a walkover victory over injured Anna Kournikova in the second, had little answer to Coetzer’s consistent baseline game.
MEN:
QUARTERFINALS:
Yevgeny Kafelnikov bt Cyril Saulnier 6-3, 7-5; Sjeng Schalken bt Nicolas Escude 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3; Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Rainer Schuettler 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
WOMEN:
QUARTERFINALS:
Amelie Mauresmo bt Maja Matevzic 7-6 (7/1), 6-3; Magdalena Maleeva bt Nathalie Dechy 6-4, 6-2; Amanda Coetzer bt Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-1.—AFP/Reuters
|
|
|
|
