|
|
|
| August 22, 2005 | Monday | Rajab 16, 1426 |
Top seed Federer to meet Roddick in final
CINCINNATI, Aug 21: World number one Roger Federer had to dig deep to beat American wildcard Robby Ginepri 4-6 7-5 6-4 on Saturday to reach the final of the Cincinnati Masters.
Federer, who has won his last 21 finals, now meets fifth seed American Andy Roddick, who beat third seed Lleyton Hewitt 6-4 7-6.
The Swiss top seed looked out of sorts as he dropped the first set. He snatched the second before breaking serve once more in the third to reach his fourth Masters Series final of the year.
Federer was strangely flat in the early stages on a hot but breezy day and the unseeded Ginepri, playing error-free tennis, broke to love in the ninth game before serving out for the opening set.
Light rain forced the players off at 5-5 in the second. The interruption lasted eight minutes and it seemed to galvanise Federer as he held serve before breaking for the first time to level.
Ginepri matched Federer until he was 5-4 down in the decider. With thunder rumbling in the distance, a volley error handed the Swiss his 21st consecutive victory against an American player.
Roddick smashed 24 aces to exorcise a few demons with his victory over Hewitt, having lost six of his seven previous meetings with the Australian.
Serving and volleying much more than normal, and slicing his backhand to deny Hewitt the pace he thrives on, Roddick saved two break points in the sixth game before breaking Hewitt in the next game and taking the opening set on his fifth set point.
Results (semifinals): Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Robby Ginepri (United States) 4-6 7-5 6-4; Andy Roddick (United States) beat 3-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 6-4 7-6(4) Henin-Hardenne wins
TORONTO: Justine Henin-Hardenne advanced to the finals of the $1.3 million Rogers Cup on Saturday night, downing defending champion and second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in the semifinals.
The fourth-seeded Belgian, who won this event in 2003 the last time it was in Toronto, will now meet seventh-seed Kim Clijsters in an all-Belgium final.
Clijsters raced into the final thanks to a 6-4, 6-1 drubbing of ninth-seeded Russian Anastasia Myskina earlier on Saturday.
Henin-Hardenne had a much tougher time in her semifinal against Mauresmo, who has won this event two of the last three years.
Mauresmo rallied from being down 2-0 in the second set to force a third set and broke Henin-Hardenne in game one of the final set.
However, Henin-Hadrenne broke right back in the second game before reeling off another five straight games to advance to Sunday’s final.
Mauresmo disputed a call during the third game and went on to lose the game. She appeared to wilt after that, never getting back into contention in the match that took just over two hours to play.
Henin-Hardenne now leads the career series between the two top players 4-3.
Results (semifinals): Kim Clijsters (Belgium) bt Anastasia Myskina (Russia) 6-4 6-1; Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) bt Amelie Mauresmo (France) 7-5 3-6 6-1.—Reuters
|
|
|
|
