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SHANGHAI, Sept 27: Top seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic will face Mark Philippoussis in the final of the 380,000-dollar ATP tournament in Shanghai, after the Australian handily disposed of Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-4.
Third seed Philippoussis needed only 67 minutes to overpower the 19-year-old Swede, reaching his third final since Wimbledon.
“I was serving huge today, and I was just trying to make him play,” said Philippoussis.
Although the gutsy and hard-hitting Soderling was outmatched, strong serves and ground strokes saw him off to a quick start, up 4-2 in the first set.
But Soderling, ranked 91st and playing in his first career ATP semi-final, failed to capitalise, losing the next four games and the set 6-4.
“I think he has a lot of potential, he’s definitely got a lot of weapons,” Philippoussis said of his opponent.
The Australian then dominated most of the second set despite momentarily losing his concentration in anticipation of Sunday’s final.
“I lost the timing in the second set ... I got it back but I was a little bit too tense and eager to make it to the finals,” he said.
Of his next opponent he said: “He’s a tough player who returns well. It’s going to be a tough match, no doubt.”
Novak downed Australian Wayne Arthurs, 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-2 to earn a place in the final, and a victory Sunday would give the 27-year-old his second ATP tournament triumph this year, following his victory at Gstaad.
Twelfth in the current ATP standings, Novak overcame the Australian Davis Cup team member with powerful serves and steady shots from the baseline.
Arthurs, playing in only his second ATP semi-final of the year, started the match well and looked on his way to outserving the Czech.
“The first set was very strange because he was serving very fast and very well. It was a good weapon for him,” Novak said.
Up 8/7 in the tiebreaker, Arthurs pocketed the first set 7-6 with a second-service ace as Novak gave away an early 4-2 lead.
The slow pace continued in the second set as the match swung back and forth on service, until Arthurs, down 4-3 in the second, double-faulted on double break-point to help Novak to a 6-3 win.
Arthurs then self-destructed in the third set with a series of unforced errors that gave Novak a 4-0 lead and an eventual 6-2 triumph.
Semifinals: Jiri Novak (CZE) bt Wayne Arthurs (AUS) 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-2; Mark Philippoussis (AUS) bt Robin Soderling (SWE) 6-4, 6-4
Ferrero MEETS Dent
BANGKOK7: Top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero blunted the serving power of Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic to win 6-3 6-3 on Saturday and set up a final showdown with American Taylor Dent at the Thailand Open.
Dent reached his second final of the year when he upset Finnish fifth seed Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 6-2.
Ljubicic was a shadow of the player that blasted 22 aces to upset home favourite Paradorn Srichaphan on Friday and put in a lacklustre performance against his Spanish opponent.
With Ljubicic struggling to find his rhythm, the world number one broke twice early on to claim the first set.
Ljubicic briefly rallied in the second, when he grabbed a break to go 2-1 ahead with a down the line winner, but he immediately dropped his own serve to love in the fourth game.
Suffering from a sore shoulder, Ljubicic was treated by an ATP trainer but the massage failed to revive the Croatian, who promptly dropped his serve again to give Ferrero a 4-2 lead.
The Spaniard held on to his advantage to reach his sixth final of the year.
Eighth-seeded Dent, who won in Memphis in February, struggled to find consistency, hitting 11 aces and nine double-faults, but he was more aggressive than Nieminen on the key points.
Dent rallied back from 3-0 down in the first set and, after Nieminen had failed to serve out the set at 5-4, went on to take the tiebreak with ease.
In the second set, Nieminen held off two break points in the opening game before Dent broke to lead 3-2 with a crosscourt backhand. In a marathon sixth game, Dent held off six break points to hold for 4-2 and then surrendered just one more point in the match.
Results
Semifinals: Juan Carlos Ferrero (SPA bt Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 6-3, 6-3; Taylor Dent (USA) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.
Clijsters retires
LEIPZIG: Kim Clijsters’s hopes of hanging on to her world number one spot took a knock on Saturday when she retired from her semifinal against Anastasia Myskina at the Leipzig Grand Prix with an ankle injury.
Myskina will meet French and U.S. Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, who overwhelmed Venezuelan qualifier Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-0 6-3, in Sunday’s final.
Clijsters was just two games from victory when she was forced to concede the match while leading 7-5 4-4.
Semifinal results: Anastasia Myskina (Russia) bt Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 5-7 4-4, retired; Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) bt Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) 6-0 6-3.—Agencies
