June 24, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 08, 1428

NOTTINGHAM (England), June 23: France's Arnaud Clement beat fourth seed Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-4 indoors at the Nottingham Open on Friday for his second successive victory over a previous tournament winner, having earlier disposed of defending champion Richard Gasquet.

The world No 38, who defeated Gasquet 6-4, 6-3 in their weather-delayed quarter-final earlier on Friday will play Ivo Karlovic in the final after the big-serving Croat saw off Russian second seed Dmitry Tursunov 7-5, 6-4.

Organisers of the grasscourt tournament moved the day's matches inside because of rain, which prevented all but one of Thursday's quarter-finals from being completed.

Clement beat Karlovic on both their previous meetings on grass, including a quarter-final victory at Queen's last week.

It was the second match of the day for both Clement and Bjorkman, who defeated another Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the last eight.

Playing in a hall with no spectators, aside from a few people peering through the windows, Clement broke Bjorkman, the 1998 and 2002 champion, twice in the first set.

But the 35-year-old Swede seemed to have found his way back into the match when he took a 3-0 lead in the second.

The French eighth seed broke back for 3-2 and again in the ninth game, turning athletically to hit a forehand past Bjorkman, who shouted in frustration.

Serving for victory, Clement took the match at the first time of asking with a smash.

Karlovic squandered six break points against Tursunov in the first set of their match before wearing him down to go 6-5 ahead.

The 2.08-metres-tall Croat then served for the set, sealing it with an ace, one of 16 he fired down during the match.

He broke Tursunov for a 2-1 lead in the second which was enough for victory.

Friday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Semi-finals: 8-Arnaud Clement (France) beat 4-Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 6-2, 6-4; Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) beat 2-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 7-5, 6-4.

Quarter-finals: Bjorkman beat 6-Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Clement beat 1-Richard Gasquet (France) 6-4, 6-3; 2-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

EASTBOURNE EVENT

EASTBOURNE (England): World No 1Justine Henin reached the final of the Eastbourne International grasscourt tournament with a swift 6-1, 6-3 win over Marion Bartoli on Friday.

In the final, the Belgian will play world No 4 Amelie Mauresmo, last year's Wimbledon champion, who went through when her Russian semi-final opponent Nadia Petrova pulled out with injury after losing the first set 4-6.

Henin, Eastbourne defending champion and a favourite for Wimbledon which starts on Monday, was on Devonshire Park's Centre Court for barely an hour and made the victory look easy.

Frenchwoman Bartoli, the eighth seed, has an unorthodox but impressive serve which she used to great effect in thrashing fourth seed Elena Dementieva on Thursday.

It failed to rescue her against Henin, however, and Bartoli lost the first three games in rapid succession.

She held for 3-1 but was broken again in the sixth game as Henin spurred herself on with cries of “Allez!”Bartoli, the world No 20, produced a more solid serve at the start of the second set but put a forehand wide to allow Henin to go a break up for 4-3.

In the ninth game, Henin had two match points and though Bartoli saved the first with a service winner she hit another forehand error on the second.

Third seed Petrova had three bouts of medical treatment during Thursday's win over Sybille Bammer, for back and thigh problems, and emerged for her semi-final with her right thigh strapped.

Friday's problem was a pectoral muscle injury, she told reporters.

Friday’s results:

Semi-finals: 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) beat 8-Marion Bartoli (France) 6-1, 6-3; 2-Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat 3-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 6-4 – retired.

TOP SEED IN FINAL

AMSTERDAM: Top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia secured a place in the Den Bosch Open final with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 win over last year's runner-up Dinara Safina on Friday.

In a close-fought thriller, Jankovic, who was struggling with a hamstring injury, saw five match points slip through her fingers before finally overcoming her Russian opponent in the tiebreak with a swiping crosscourt shot at the net.

Jankovic will play Anna Chakvetadze in the final, after the Russian dispatched Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-4.

Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, seeded second, won a place in the men's final by beating Julien Benneteau of France 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.

Benneteau bounced back in the second set after losing an error-riddled tiebreak but was outplayed in the third.

Ljubicic will face either Antony Dupuis of France or Peter Wessels of the Netherlands in the final.

Friday’s results:

Men’s singles:

Semi-final: 2-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-4;

Quarter-final: Antony Dupuis (France) beat Benjamin Becker (Germany) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

Women’s singles:

Semi-finals: 1-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat 4-Dinara Safina (Russia) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6); 3-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat 5-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-4.—Reuters