February 25, 2007	Sunday	Safar 7, 1428

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MEMPHIS (Tennessee), Feb 24: Venus Williams beat Romanian qualifier Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-3, 6-2 on Friday and gave herself a chance to cap her return to competitive tennis in winning style in the Cellular South Cup final.

Williams didn't face a break point against Olaru in the semi-finals. The former No. 1 player has a chance to win her first title since 2005 Wimbledon at this Tier-III event where the winner’s check is $25,840. She hadn't played since October because of her left wrist, which forced her to withdraw from the Australian Open, which sister Serena won in January, and from an event in Belgium last week.

Williams will play 19-year-old rising star Shahar Peer of Israel, who took advantage of eight double faults by unseeded Meilen Tu to beat the American 6-4, 7-5. Top-seeded Peer won her three previous finals last year.

In the quarter-finals of the men's Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, top-seeded Andy Roddick broke his racket out of frustration, then rallied to beat Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun 6-4, 7-6 (7) after facing four set points.

With Roddick's victory, the top four seeds advanced to the semi-finals for the first time in the tournament since 1998 when Marcelo Rios, Michael Chang, Gustavo Kuerten and Mark Philippoussis did so. It's the first time the top four seeds reached the semi-finals in a tour event since the French Open last year.

Defending champion Tommy Haas routed wild card Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-2 in 44 minutes, and will play another American, fourth-seeded Mardy Fish, who advanced when Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili retired with a stomach illness while trailing 6-2, 4-1. Third-seeded Andy Murray defeated Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-3, 6-2.

Roddick, the tournament winner in 2002, was in the semi-finals for the third time in three tournaments this year. He will play 19-year-old Murray, who beat him in the semi-finals last week en route to successfully defending his title in San Jose, California.

Lu, 90th in the world and in his first quarter-final, broke Roddick's serve twice and went up 4-2 in the second set. He held serve for 5-2 despite Roddick having four break points, prompting the American to yell and smash his racket against the court and break it in half with his hands.

Roddick held and broke back, then held serve himself to force the tiebreak only to fall behind 6-3 in the tiebreaker. Then Roddick won the next three points and tied it up at 6-6 when Lu double-faulted for the seventh time in the set. Lu hit a backhand crosscourt for a 7-6 lead only to hit forehands into the net on two of the next three points, the last giving Roddick the win. Murray's victory was his eighth straight.

Germany's Haas, the Memphis champion in 1999 and 2006, didn't face a break point in subduing Querrey for the second time this month. Querrey was appearing in his first ATP quarter-final.

Fish has reached the quarter-finals or better in each of his four tournaments this season and was in his second semi-final of 2007. He didn't give Gabashvili a chance. Fish won all 19 first serves he put in and had 11 aces.

Results (x denotes seed):

Women (semi-finals): Venus Williams (US x7) bt Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROM) 6-3, 6-2; Shahar Peer (ISR x1) bt Meilen Tu (US) 6-4, 7-5.

Men (quarter-finals): Andy Roddick (US x1) bt Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE), 6-4, 7-6 (9/7); Mardy Fish (US x4) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS) 6-2, 4-1, retired, stomach illness; Tommy Haas (GER x2) bt Sam Querrey (US) 6-2, 6-2; Andy Murray (GBR x3) bt Stefan Koubek (AUT) 6-3, 6-2.

MAURESMO IN DUBAI FINAL

DUBAI: Amelie Mauresmo earned the chance to win back-to-back titles in different continents on Friday when she reached the Dubai Open final in a bizarre match which featured a cat, faulty scoreboards and an opponent who gave up injured.

Wimbledon champion Mauresmo reached the final, where she will face French Open winner Justine Henin, when her semi-final opponent Jelena Jankovic, the world number 11 from Serbia, twisted an ankle after dropping the first set 6-2.

Mauresmo will be chasing her second title in a week after winning the Antwerp title last Sunday.

Earlier, Henin produced her best performance in six matches since her comeback, making a brave recovery from a set down to beat Russian world number five Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the semi-final.

YOUZHNY CONTINUES PROGRESS

ROTTERDAM (Netherlands): Mikhail Youzhny continued his quiet progress at the ATP Rotterdam Open on Friday as he beat sixth seed David Ferrer of Spain 6-2, 7-5 to reach the semi-finals.

The 2006 US Open semi-finalist is content to let other players make headlines at the Ahoy arena; he's just concentrating on improving a game which has gone from strength to strength this season.

The 24-year-old ranked 22nd, has exploded into form after injury last autumn which kept him from a spot on the Russian team which won the Davis Cup last December in Moscow over Argentina.

Youzhny improved to 12-4 on the season, playing in his fourth ATP quarter-final in five tournaments. He reached the semi-finals in Zagreb and quarters in Doha and Marseille.

Youzhny beat Ferrer in their last meeting, at the US Open where the Russian reached a career-best Grand Slam showing with a loss in the final four to Andy Roddick.

Against Ferrer, Youzhny fired six aces and broke five times in one hour, 21 minutes.

Russian compatriot Nikolay Davydenko remains the top target in the field, with the number one seed due to play a quarter-final against German Philipp Kohlschreiber, who eliminated holder Radek Stepanek.

Results

Quarter-finals: Novak Djokovic (SRB x5) bt Tommy Robredo (ESP x2) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) bt David Ferrer (ESP x6) 6-2, 7-5; Ivan Ljubicic (CRO x3) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 6-4, 6-2; Nikolay Davydenko (RUS x1) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-4.

BUENOS AIRES RESULTS

BUENOS AIRES: Results from the Buenos Aires ATP tournament on Friday.

Quarter-finals: Alessio di Mauro (ITA) bt Albert Montanes (ESP) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2; Diego Hartfield (ARG) bt Nicolas Devilder (FRA) 6-4, 7-5; Juan Monaco (ARG) bt Luis Horna (PER) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Nicolas Almagro (ESP x4) bt Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG x7) 6-4, 6-3. –Agencies