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| May 13, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1427 |
Federer survives against Spanish qualifier
ROME, May 12: Roger Federer survived a ferocious claycourt battle with Spanish qualifier Nicolas Almagro at the Rome Masters on Friday, winning 6-3 6-7 7-5 to set up a semifinal against fourth seed David Nalbandian.
The world number one, who is yet to win the title here after five previous visits, finally snapped Almagro's resistance in the 12th game of the deciding set when his opponent netted a forehand after fending off several match points.
Federer had looked comfortable when he moved a break ahead in the second set after winning the first, but a double fault on his first match point opened the way for 20-year-old Almagro, a winner in Valencia last month, to come storming back.
Federer steadied himself in the decider, but looked tense in comparison with his opponent, who struck a pair of nerveless winners to save break points in the sixth and eighth games.
Almagro wavered when serving to take the match into a deciding tiebreak, and although he saved three match points he could not fend Federer off any longer.
“I'm prepared for a three-hour match, you know, I have to be,” Federer said of his semi-final with Nalbandian, one of few players with a winning record over the Swiss.
“I play many matches that don't go on that long, but I have to be prepared for the unexpected.
“I had a chance to win in the second set, I double-faulted, then he almost came back and beat me, so I got lucky today. It was a great match.”
Federer can expect another battle with Nalbandian, who has won six of their 10 previous meetings including in the season-ending Masters Cup final last year.
The Argentine has dropped just one set in his last nine matches on clay -- a run that includes winning last week's claycourt title in Estoril -- and was rarely stretched during his 6-3 6-3 win over Mario Ancic.
Most of the buzz in the Italian capital this week has centred on the prospect of another showdown between Federer and defending champion Rafael Nadal, who has won his last 50 matches on clay, although Nalbandian insists both are beatable.
Results (quarterfinal):
1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 6-3 6-7(2) 7-5; 4-David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat Mario Ancic (Croatia) 6-3 6-3
PETROVA IN SEMIS
BERLIN: Nadia Petrova, arguably the hottest player on the 2006 WTA Tour, made an outstanding comeback to reach her sixth semifinal of the year at the German Open.
The second-seeded Russian was a set and 0-3 down in the second set against compatriot Dinara Safina before recovering to win a long drawn out and tiring two-hour 18-minute encounter 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
It was Petrova's 31st victory of the season and her 13th successive win on clay, although it looked very much in doubt for at least an hour, during which she looked jaded and below par.
She was also frequently forced to contain and defend by Safina, who sensed an opportunity to beat her older and more experienced fellow Muscovite, and struck the ball flat and hard and worked her from side to side.
A turning point came in the fifth game of the second set at 15-30 on Safina's serve, when she got a chance to attack a desperate defensive lob from Petrova, and stepped in and took it ambitiously early only to drill a forehand wide.
That gave Petrova a break point which she took with a steadily played rally, and from then on her appetite for the fight noticeably increased.
Petrova nearly broke again immediately, reducing Safina to 15-40 in her next service game, but the big breakthrough came at 4-4 when Petrova came up with a fiercely struck backhand return winner to punish an indifferent second serve on break point.
By then Safina was beginning to shake her head at her inability to convert chances and half way through the third set she was hurling her racket impetuously in the air.
Her frustration never got her into trouble, however, and she caught the descending implement deftly.
Petrova accelerated her already increasing psychological advantage when she broke for 3-2 in the final set with a wonderfully disguised fade forehand drive which caught the sideline, and celebrated by running ostentatiously to her chair.
Safina fought to the end but never looked like retrieving the deficit.
Finally she dropped serve again at 3-5, twice over-hitting on the forehand side which Petrova had been trying to pressurise.
Results (quarterfinals):
Na Li (China) beat 4-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 2-6 7-6(3) 7-6(1); 2-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat 10-Dinara Safina (Russia) 3-6 6-4 6-3
PRAGUE OPEN RESULTS
Quarterfinals: Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) beat 6-Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) 7-5 0-6 7-5; 5-Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat 4-Emilie Loit (France) 6-4 6-3; 3-Shahar Peer (Israel) beat 8-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) 7-5 6-0 —Agencies
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