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| July 14, 2008 | Monday | Rajab 10, 1429 |
Gasquet reaches season’s first final
STUTTGART, July 13: French second seed Richard Gasquet came from a set down against Argentine sixth seed Agustin Calleri in the Stuttgart Cup on Saturday to reach his first final of the year.
The world No 15 lost the opening set tiebreak of the claycourt encounter before upping his game to record a 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 win after breaking Calleri twice in each of the last two sets.
Gasquet, the highest ranked player at the tournament following the late withdrawal of top seed and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal, has won five ATP career titles but has not been in a final since last October’s hardcourt tournament in Tokyo.
The 22-year-old Frenchman will face Calleri’s compatriot Juan Martin del Potro in the final.
The unseeded Del Potro won an all-Argentine affair in the day’s opening semi-final, comfortably seeing off eighth seed Eduardo Schwank 6-2, 6-4.
Del Potro, 19, will be competing in the first ATP final of his career.
He lost his only previous meeting with Gasquet, a 7-6, 6-2 defeat at last year’s Indian Wells Masters Series.
ROBREDO THROUGH
BASTAD (Sweden): Third seed Tommy Robredo battled back from a set down to oust holder David Ferrer in an all-Spanish semi-final at the Swedish Open on Saturday.
He now meets Czech Tomas Berdych in the final.
Robredo, vying for his second title on the Swedish clay having won here in 2006, outran top seed Ferrer in the deciding set to win 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 in two hours, eight minutes.Earlier, fourth-seeded 2005 finalist Berdych beat second seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.—Reuters
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