June 22, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 17, 1429

EASTBOURNE (England), June 21: Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska beat second seed Marion Bartoli 7-5, 6-3 in a hard-fought match to join Nadia Petrova in the Eastbourne International final on Friday.

Russian Petrova, the eighth seed, produced a storming finish to defeat Australian Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-3 in the first semi-final at the $600,000 grasscourt tournament.

At the end of a first set interrupted for just over an hour by rain on a chilly day at the English seaside, she double-faulted on Radwanska’s fourth set point.

Ever the fighter, Bartoli broke her opponent at the start of the second set but was broken back straight away.

After another exchange of breaks, she again double-faulted on the third break point of the eighth game. Though Bartoli saved one match point in the following game with a crosscourt winner, Radwanska took victory with a winning volley.

Petrova surrendered only two points in the final two games against doubles specialist Stosur and finished off with a thundering ace.

Rain twice halted the first set. The second suspension came immediately after Petrova had broken Stosur to lead 4-3 and seemed to unsettle the Australian.

When the match resumed, Stosur, who returned to tennis in April after seven months out with serious illness, earned only one point in the next two games and surrendered the set on another break.

Petrova, a semi-finalist here last year before having to pull out with injury, began making errors at the start of the second set and had to save two break points in the first game.

Luckily for her, Stosur, who has won 22 doubles titles but none in singles, was even more error-prone and failed to convert two more break points in the seventh game.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Women’s singles (semi-finals): 4-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) bt 2-Marion Bartoli (France) 7-5, 6-3; 8-Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-3, 6-3.

KARLOVIC FACES VERDASCO

LONDON: Croatian Ivo Karlovic will defend his Nottingham Open title against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco after both men won their semi-finals in straight sets on Friday.

Karlovic beat French Open semi-finalist Gael Monfils 7-6, 7-6, winning both tiebreaks 7-4, while the third-seeded Verdasco got to his first grasscourt final by defeating Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-3, 6-1 in just over an hour.

Results:

Men’s singles (semi-finals): 3-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Marin Cilic (Croatia) 6-3, 6-1; 4-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt 8-Gael Monfils (France) 7-6(4), 7-6(4).

FERRER IN FIRST GRASS FINAL

DEN BOSCH (The Netherlands): Top seed David Ferrer reached his first career final on grass in Den Bosch on Friday by defeating Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 7-6, 6-1.

In the women’s event, Russia’s Dinara Safina once again got the better of compatriot and top seed Elena Dementieva with an easy 6-3, 6-2 victory.

Safina now faces world number 85 Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand who beat Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-4.

Results:

Men’s singles (semi-finals): 1-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 7-6(4), 6-1; Marc Gicquel (France) bt 7-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 3-6, 6-0, 6-4.

Women’s singles (semi-finals): 3-Dinara Safina (Russia) bt 1-Elena Dementieva (Russia) 6-3, 6-2; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) bt 8-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-4.—Reuters