Williams to meet Martinez in first final since injury
CHARLESTON, April 18: Venus Williams defeated Croatia's Jelena Kostanic 6-4, 6-1 here on Saturday to reach a finals date with Spain's Conchita Martinez at the 1.3 million-dollar WTA Family Circle Cup.
The 23-year-old American advanced to her first final since a six-month layoff with a strained abdomen following her loss to younger sister Serena in last year's Wimbledon final. Martinez fired three aces and 16 winners to defeat Switzerland's Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-3 and will try to deny Williams her first title in 14 months.
Martinez, who rose to 7-2 against Schnyder, turned 32 on Friday and on Monday captured her 700th career match victory. Reigning Wimbledon champion Serena Williams withdrew from the event with a sore left knee and Belgian world number Justine Henin-Hardenne, the defending champion, pulled out due to illness and will miss at least two more weeks.
Results: (x denotes seed):
Semifinals: Venus Williams (USA x4) bt Jelena Kostanic (CRO) 6-4, 6-1; Conchita Martinez (SPA) bt Patty Schnyder (SWI) 6-4, 6-3.
Roddick in final
NEW YORK: Andy Roddick advanced to his fourth straight final appearance by defeating Luis Horna of Peru 6-3 6-4 in the semifinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston on Saturday.
The top seeded American won consecutive crowns from 2001 before losing to Andre Agassi in last year's title match and he will be hoping to secure a hat-trick of victories in final after over-powering Horna.
The seventh seeded Peruvian had defeated Roddick the last time they met in 2001, but could not keep pace with the American on this occasion as Roddick won his 12th straight match.
The 21-year-old reigning U.S. Open champion now has an impressive 18-1 record at this event. Roddick faces Tommy Haas in the final after the unseeded German stunned fifth-seeded Romanian Andrei Pavel 6-4 6-7 6-4 in the day's other semi-final.
The 26-year-old Haas missed all of last season with a shoulder injury and if he emerges victorious against Roddick, it will be his title win since 2001.
TITLE FOR Loit
ESTORIL: France's Emilie Loit won her second successive title here on Sunday overcoming a fighback from Czech sixth seed Iveta Benesova to triumph 7-5, 7-6 (7/1) at the 748,850-Euros Estoril Open. Loit, seeded three, has now won ten straight matches on the WTA Tour.
She took one hour, 51 minutes, to hold off Benesova, lifting her second career title of a spring purple patch on the clay which saw her take her first ever crown earlier this month in Casablanca.
Loit took a 4-1 lead in the opening set, but lost the advantage, eventually forced to break for 7-5 to grab a lead. In the second, Loit moved to 2-0 but again had to recover and then sped through a concluding tie-breaker to take the title. - Agencies
