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| June 10, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1426 |
Top seed Federer cruises into quarterfinals
HALLE (Germany), June 9: World number one Roger Federer cruised into the Halle Open quarterfinals with a 6-2 6-4 win over Germany’s Florian Mayer on Thursday.
The Swiss Wimbledon champion extended his winning streak on grass to 26 matches as he stepped up his bid for a third successive title at the German event.
The top seed was at his imperious best in the first set, breaking local favourite Mayer twice.
But the young German, ATP newcomer of the year in 2004, gave the crowd something to cheer about in the second set when he broke Federer twice.
A pumped-up Federer was more than equal to the challenge, however, breaking back immediately both times and even allowing himself an uncharacteristic whoop of joy after one particularly fierce forehand winner down the line.
Federer, who is also aiming for a third consecutive Wimbledon title when the tournament gets under way on June 20, faces Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Halle quarters.
Also on Thursday, fourth seed Guillermo Canas reached the quarterfinals with a 6-3 7-6 win over Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.
Canas, who recovered from 5-3 down in the second set, will play Rainer Schuettler of Germany or Belgium’s Dick Norman for a place in the semifinals.
Germany’s Alexander Waske was unable to repeat Wednesday’s heroics, when he beat newly-crowned French Open champion Rafael Nadal, losing out to former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6 6-7 6-3.
Men’s singles (second round): Guillermo Canas (ARG) bt Nenad Zimonjic (SEM) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3); Roger Federer (SUI) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 6-2, 6-4; Juan-Carlos Ferrero (ESP) bt Alexander Waske (GER) 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (7/9), 6-3
Roddick through
LONDON: Defending champion Andy Roddick battled through to the quarterfinals of the Stella Artois Championships on Thursday with a testing 6-2 3-6 6-4 victory over Slovakian Karol Beck.
Croatian fifth seed Mario Ancic, however, was eliminated when he lost 7-5 1-6 6-3 in the third round to gifted French teenager Richard Gasquet in the pre-Wimbledon grasscourt event.
Second seed Roddick, winner at Queen’s in 2003 and 2004, was second best for much of his match against Beck but the world number 44 cracked when serving at 4-5 in the third set.
Beck doubled-faulted twice in succession to hand the American an unexpected match point and blazed a backhand out to lose his serve and with it a match in which his drop shots and variation caused Roddick all sorts of problems.
The world number four will play either French seventh seed Sebastien Grosjean, whom he beat in each of the last two Queen’s finals, or American James Blake in the last eight.
Tenth seed Gasquet, who has never progressed beyond the first round at Queen’s before, took a significant pre-Wimbledon scalp to show he can translate his impressive claycourt form on to the slicker surface.
The 18-year-old, who reached the Hamburg Masters final last month, edged the first set against 2004 Wimbledon semi-finalist Ancic.
After a second set lapse Gasquet dominated the decider to set up a quarterfinal against either Briton Greg Rusedski or Czech Radek Stepanek.
Results:
Men’s singles (third round): Andy Roddick (USA) bt Karol Beck (SVK) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Richard Gasquet (FRA) bt Mario Ancic (CRO) 7-5, 1-6, 6-3; Ivo Karlovic (CRO) bt Tomas Zib (CZE) 6-2, 6-4
Sharapova triumphs
BIRMINGHAM:Champion and top seed Maria Sharapova was given a torrid time before she edged out Samantha Stosur 6-3 3-6 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the pre-Wimbledon Edgbaston grasscourt tournament on Thursday.
In a repeat of last year’s third-round match, the Russian was given her first real test on the surface by the 16th-seeded Australian.
The Wimbledon champion used her greater expertise on the slick surface to romp through the third set having dropped the second.
Almost 12 months on from her triumph at the All England Club, Sharapova is looking forward to returning to the tournament which turned her into a global phenomenon.
In other action, sixth seed Shinobu Asagoe failed to reach the last eight after she was ousted 6-4 6-4 by Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze.
Women’s singles (third round): Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-3 3-6 6-1; Mashona Washington (United States) bt Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spain) 6-2 6-4; Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) bt Shinobu Asagoe (Japan) 6-4 6-4; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) bt Stephanie Foretz (France) 2-6 6-3 6-3; Laura Granville (United States) bt Jamea Jackson (United States) 7-6(5) 6-4.—Agencies
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