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| October 22, 2005 | Saturday | Ramzan 17, 1426 |
Ginepri, Ljubicic through to semis
MADRID, Oct 21: American Robby Ginepri produced an immaculate exhibition of controlled power tennis to see off Spain’s David Ferrer 6-1 6-4 and earn himself a place in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters on Friday.
Ginepri will meet the winner of the clash between top seed Rafael Nadal and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who play later on Friday.
The powerful American was joined by the in-form Croatian Ivan Ljubicic who fought his way from a set down to clinch a 4-6 7-6 6-4 victory over Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez.
Ljubicic, who has won back-to-back tournaments in Metz and Vienna, will face either fifth-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian or his big serving compatriot Ivo Karlovic in Saturday’s semifinal.
Earlier a highly focused Ginepri, who upset third seed Nikolay Davydenko in the third round, made an impressive start at the Madrid Arena, holding his serve to love in the opening game and then breaking in the second.
He stretched the Spaniard around the court with his high velocity ground strokes and broke again in the fourth on his way to a 5-0 lead.
Ginepri, who lost to Andre Agassi in five sets in the semi-final of this year’s U.S. Open, then served out to take the set 6-1 after forcing Ferrer into a string of errors.
Ferrer beat sixth seed Mariano Puerta on his way to the quarters, but he was never given the chance to find the sort of rhythm that took him to a victory over the Argentine as Ginepri pinned him to the baseline and dominated at the net.
Ginepri, who won his previous two meetings with Ferrer, broke again in the fifth game of the second set, kept the tempo high and weathered some late pressure from the Spaniard when he was serving for the match.
Gonzalez became the first man to break Ljubicic’s serve this week and end the Croatian’s 81-game service winning streak when he broke in the seventh game on his way to taking the opening set.
Quarterfinal results:
Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) bt Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) 4-6 7-6 6-4; Robby Ginepri (United States) bt -David Ferrer (Spain) 6-1 6-4
ZURICH: Seventh seed Anastasia Myskina edged past fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-7 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Zurich Open on Friday.
After losing a 38-stroke exchange midway through the second set, Myskina responded by cracking her racket.
Myskina gained a 5-2 lead in the final set but within minutes she dropped her serve to love.
With Dementieva unable to capitalise on the break, Myskina held her nerve to clinch the match on her second attempt.
Serb teenager Ana Ivanovic took just 64 minutes to humble Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 6-1.
Results: Anastasia Myskina (Russia) bt Elena Dementieva (Russia) 6-3 6-7(1) 6-4; Ana Ivanovic (Serbia and Montenegro) bt Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 6-3 6-1.—Agencies
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