October 07, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 24, 1428

TOKYO, Oct 6: Venus Williams ended a spirited challenge from Danish teen Caroline Wozniacki on Friday to reach the final of the Japan Open, while former world number one Lleyton Hewitt crashed out.

The Wimbledon champion, heavily favoured for the title, powered to a 6-3, 7-5 victory to move to within one match of back-to-back tour wins after last week’s Korea Open triumph.

In the final the American will take on fifth seed Virginie Razzano of France, who defeated eighth seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

After losing the first four games in a row and eventually the first set, Wozniacki went ahead 2-0 in the second set and then 4-2, taking advantage of Venus’s two double faults in the sixth game.

But the American steadied herself to make it 5-5 thanks to a questionable line-call – before winning the last three games to finish off the 97-minute match.

Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Hewitt, from Australia, lost to seventh seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (8/6) in the men’s singles quarter-finals.

Karlovic hit a total of 25 service aces against Hewitt’s nine.

In the semi-finals, the Croat will play top seed David Ferrer, who defeated fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-5.

French third seed Richard Gasquet whipped Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-1, while second seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic outclassed eighth seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain 7-6 (9/7), 4-6, 7-5.

Friday’s results (x denotes seeding):

Men’s:

Quarter-finals: David Ferrer (ESP x1) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP x10) 6-4, 6-4; Ivo Karlovic (CRO x7) bt Lleyton Hewitt (AUS x4) 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (8/6); Richard Gasquet (FRA x3) bt Dudi Sela (ISR) 6-4, 6-1; Tomas Berdych (CZE x2) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP x8) 7-6 (9/7), 4-6, 7-5.

Women’s:

Semi-finals: Venus Williams (US x1) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 6-3, 7-5; Virginie Razzano (FRA x5) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA x8) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Men’s:

Doubles semi-finals: Frank Dancevic/ Stephen Huss (CAN/AUS) bt Robert Kendrick/Michael Russell (US) 7-5, 7-6 (7/4).

Women’s:

Doubles semi-finals: Chuang Chia-jung/Vania King (TPE/US x1) bt Aiko Nakamura/Tamarine Tanasugarn (JPN/THA) 6-3, 6-3.

SERENA OUT, HENIN IN SEMIS

STUTTGART: Serena Williams was left bemused by her exit from Stuttgart’s WTA tournament on Friday while world number one Justine Henin was pleased with her performance to reach the last four.

Sixth-seed Serena suffered a first defeat to Sveltlana Kuznetsova when the Russian second-seed won their quarter-final clash 6-3, 6-3 on Friday evening.

Kuznetsova, who had lost both her previous 2004 meetings with Serena, will now face France’s Tatiana Golovin in the semi-final.

Earlier in the evening, Belgian favourite Henin was again convincing as she had few problems in her straight-sets win over Elena Dementieva. The Russian had a rare chance when she broke Henin late in the second set only for Henin to break back and claim a 6-4, 6-4 win.

Henin faces Jelena Jankovic in the semi-final after the Serbian’s opponent, defending champion Nadia Petrova, limped out of her quarter-final as her hip injury from the US Open flared up and forced her to retire.

In seven meetings – five of them this year – the Serb has never beaten Henin.

After the battle royal first set was decided on tie-break 7-5, Jankovic raced out to a 5-1 second set lead before the Russian waved the white flag.

Earlier in the day, last year’s beaten finalist Golovin was pleased to be back in the last four after her straight sets win over qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko.

The Russian-born 19-year-old needed less than 80 minutes to see off Bondarenko, 46th in the world, who upset fifth-seed Ana Ivanovic on Thursday.

Friday’s results:

Quarter-finals: Tatiana Golovin (FRA) bt Kateryna Bonderenko (UKR) 6-3, 6-4; Jelena Jankovic (SRB x3) bt Nadia Petrova (RUS x7) 6-7 (7/5), 5-1 retired; Justine Henin (BEL x1) bt Elena Dementieva (RUS) 6-4, 6-4; Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x2) bt Serena Williams (US x6) 6-3, 6-3.

ROBREDO REACHES LAST FOUR

METZ (France): Top seed Tommy Robredo of Spain reached the Metz Open semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean on Friday.

Robredo will next play local favourite Nicolas Mahut who thrilled his fans with a hard-fought 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 win over Russian Igo Andreev, seeded eighth.

Briton Andy Murray easily advanced to the last four with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over another Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Scotsman Murray, seeded third, will play his sixth semi-final of the year. The 20-year-old world number 18 will face Guillermo Canas for a place in Sunday’s final.

Argentine Canas, seeded second, crushed Russian qualifier Yevgeny Korolev 6-1, 6-4 earlier on Friday.

Friday’s results:

Quarter-finals: Tommy Robredo (ESP x1) bt Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) 6-4, 6-4; Andy Murray (BRIT x3) bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 6-3, 6-3; Guillermo Canas (ARG x2) bt Evgeny Korolev (RUS) 6-1, 6-4; Nicolas Mahut (FRA) bt Igor Andreev (RUS x8) 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(1).—Agencies