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| May 06, 2007 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 18, 1428 |
Djokovic, Robredo toil to reach semi-finals
LISBON, May 5: Novak Djokovic will be fighting the fatigue factor after battling for more than two and a half hours on Friday to subdue Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 for a semi-finals place here at the Estoril Open.
The Serb third seed will face a Spanish clay craftsman in number two Tommy Robredo, who had his own troubles in overcoming Argentine Agustin Calleri 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.
Richard Gasquet and Paul-Henri Mathieu set up a French showdown after both subdued stubborn opponents. The young pair will meet for the second time this season following a Jan quarter-final in Sydney with the score standing at 2-0 in Gasquet’s favour.
Gasquet overcame a slow start to advance past crafty American veteran Vince Spadea 6-3, 6-4.
Mathieu, ranked 42nd and winner of a title last week in Casablanca, had his own struggle before overcoming Argentine Juan Monaco 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Djokovic needed five match points to finally stake his claim on the semi-finals in his Estoril appearance.
Among the women the number three Lucie Safarova was the last seed standing in the semi-finals.
Spain’s Nuria Llagostera Vives reached the last four as French top seed Marion Bartoli was forced to retire with a strained abdominal muscle, losing 6-2, 3-1. The winner will face German Greta Arn, who beat Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-2.
Results on Friday (x denotes seeding):
Women (quarter-finals): Lucie Safarova (CZE x3) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP) 7-5, 6-3; Viktoria Azarenka (BLR) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG) 6-1, 6-2; Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) bt Marion Bartoli (FRA x1) 6-2, 3-1, retired; Greta Arn (GER) bt Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 6-2, 6-2.
Men (quarter-finals): Richard Gasquet (FRA x5) bt Vince Spadea (US) 6-3, 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) bt Juan Monaco (ARG) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; Novak Djokovic (SRB x3) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 6-4, 1-6, 7-5; Tommy Robredo (ESP x2) bt Agustin Calleri (ARG x7) 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.
WARSAW: Justine Henin extended her winning streak at the J and S Cup to seven matches when she eased past unseeded Italian Mara Santangelo 6-2, 6-1 here.
The top-seeded Belgian, who claimed the title in 2005, took just 65 minutes to reach the semi-finals, where she will face Serbian Jelena Jankovic.
The number four seed benefited from the retirement of sixth seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze, who strained her right shoulder late in the first set and conceded that match 7-6 (7/1), 3-1.
The second semi-final will be between unseeded Alona Bondarenko, who also benefited from a retirement when fellow Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko quit with a right wrist injury when trailing 6-2, 3-1, and third seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who edged past unseeded American Venus Williams 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Results on Friday:
Quarter-finals: Jelena Jankovic (SRB x4) bt Anna Chakvetadze (RUS x6) 7-6 (7/1), 3-1 – retired; Justine Henin (BEL x1) bt Mara Santangelo (ITA) 6-2, 6-1; Alona Bondarenko (UKR) bt Julia Vakulenko (UKR) 6-2, 3-1 – retired; Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x3) bt Venus Williams (US) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
MUNICH: Local favourite Philipp Kohlschreiber reached the ATP tournament’s semi-finals with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) win over France’s Sebastien Grosjean here.The 23-year-old German was avenging his compatriot and top seed Tommy Haas’s defeat at the hands of Grosjean in the first round. Grosjean was undone by his misfiring first serve, twice losing his service game in the opening set to go 5-3 behind before losing it 6-4. In the second set he was 4-1 down before mounting a fight-back only to lose out in the tie-break.
Kohlschreiber booked his last-four berth in one hour 30 minutes to set up a meeting with Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis who defeated another German, Alexander Waske, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
Results on Friday:
Quarter-finals: Tomas Berdych (CZE x2) bt Nicolas Devilder (FRA) 6-2, 6-0; Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x3) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT x8) 6-2, 7-6 (7/5); Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) bt Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5); Marcos Baghdatis (CYP x4) bt Alexander Waske (GER) 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4. –Agencies
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