17 April 2005	Sunday	07 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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MONTE CARLO, April 16: French qualifier Richard Gasquet caused the upset of the year at the Monte Carlo Masters on Friday, ending world number one Roger Federer’s 25-match winning streak 6-7 6-2 7-6 in a dramatic quarterfinal.

The 18-year-old world number 101, playing his first main tour event of the year, ripped a backhand down the line to clinch a tension-filled tiebreak 10-8 on his third match point after two hours 18 minutes of action.

“It was a fantastic match, after I won it I didn’t know where I was for a few minutes,” said Gasquet, who is the first player to beat Federer’s since Russian Marat Safin achieved the feat in the semifinal of the Australian Open.

“It was three or four seconds before I realised I had beaten Roger Federer. It’s fabulous, there’s no other word I can use.

Federer, who was aiming or a record third successive Masters Series title, was generous in defeat.

Gasquet will face fellow 18-year-old Rafael Nadal for a place in the final after the Spaniard took out French Open champion Gaston Gaudio 6-3 6-0, a stunning performance overshadowed by events over on Court Central.

Nadal, the best player on claycourts this year with two titles a already, has dropped only 13 games to reach the last four and is favourite to win his first Masters Series title.

He allowed Gaudio only seven points in a second set that lasted just 22 minutes.

Fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero maintained his quest for a third Monte Carlo title, beating Italian Filippo Volandri 6-2 6-3 to set up a semi-final against Guillermo Coria.

Wildcard Ferrero, winner in 2002 and 2003, did not hit the heights of his victory over second seed Marat Safin on Thursday but still broke serve seven times.

Champion Coria, who like Ferrero is coming back from injury problems last year, stuttered against Spain’s David Ferrer, before winning 3-6 6-4 6-3.

The day, though, belonged to Gasquet.

Since becoming the youngest player to win a main tour match three years ago at Monte Carlo when as a 15-year-old he beat Franco Squillari, Gasquet has not progressed as quickly as many would have anticipated.

He seemed to be on his way out when he lost the first set tiebreak 7-1 to Federer, but far from being deflated he began firing off winners all over the court to stop the Swiss in his tracks.

After levelling the match he moved into a 5-3 lead in the decider as Federer’s resistance began to crumble, but his nerve failed him on match point when he swiped a volley beyond the baseline with the court at his mercy.

Federer saved another match point with a brave smash in the next game as Gasquet’s chance appeared to have vanished.

However, Federer wasted three match points of his own in a topsy-turvy tiebreak and when Gasquet’s chance came again he laced an unstoppable backhand down the line.

Results (quarterfinal): Richard Gasquet (France) bt Roger Federer (Switzerland) 6-7(1) 6-2 7-6(8); Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt 4-Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) 6-3 6-0; Guillermo Coria (Argentina) bt David Ferrer (Spain) 3-6 6-4 6-3; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) bt Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-2 6-3

Henin-Hardenne wins CHARLESTON (South Carolina): World number one Lindsay Davenport retired from her quarterfinal clash against Justine Henin-Hardenne Friday at the 1.3 million-dollar WTA claycourt tournament here.

The top-seeded American suffered a right hip flexor injury in the first set of the match and retired in the third set.

Belgium’s Henin-Hardenne, who has had plenty of experience with injuries herself, was leading the match 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 when Davenport retired.

Henin-Hardenne, a former world number one, was hoping to use this match to gauge her progress. She is participating in her second tournament since recovering from a viral illness and a knee injury.

Henin-Hardenne needed three sets to win each of her first two matches here before beating Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic in straight sets Thursday.

Davenport, who has won two titles this year, had reached the final of her last five tournaments.

In the first set, Davenport took an injury timeout while trailing 3-2. She bounced back to win four straight games to close out the set.

But Henin-Hardenne won five of the next six games and closed the second set with an ace.

After dropping her serve in the first game of the third set, Davenport retired.

The injury makes Davenport’s status uncertain for next week’s Fed Cup against Belgium. Henin-Hardenne will meet French teenager Tatiana Golovin in the semifinals.

A day after upsetting fourth-seeded Venus Williams, Golovin beat number seven Nadia Petrova of Russia 7-5, 6-3 on Friday.

In another quarterfinal, second-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva beat Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Dementieva’s opponent in the semifinals will be eighth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who swept past 15-year-old Czech Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 6-2.

Results: (quarterfinals): Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL) bt Lindsay Davenport (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 retired; Tatiana Golovin (FRA) bt Nadia Petrova (RUS) 7-5, 6-3; Elena Dementieva (RUS) bt Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Patty Schnyder (SUI) bt Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) 6-3, 6-2.—Agencies