0
MONTREAL, Aug 10: Andy Roddick advanced to the final of the Montreal Masters after a nail-biting win over Roger Federer 6-4 3-6 7-6 on Saturday, depriving the Wimbledon champion of the opportunity to oust Andre Agassi from the world number one ranking.
Roddick will face world number 21 David Nalbandian in the final of the $2.45 million tournament, after the unseeded Argentine rallied from a set down to beat German eighth seed Rainer Schuettler 3-6 6-2 6-2.
The 20-year-old American, who had never beaten Federer before, was down a break and trailing 4-2 in the third, but rallied past Federer 7-3 in the tie-break when the 22-year-old double-faulted and made four unforced errors.
Roddick felt the turning point came in the third set when he had to hit a half-volley from between his legs while rushing to the net. The ball landed in and the crowd erupted in awe.
Fourth seeded Federer traded nine aces with Roddick during the match, but had 10 double faults, compared to only two for the sixth-seeded American.
Federer, who will move ahead of French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero to second in the world when the new rankings are released, could have also displaced Agassi if he had beaten Roddick.
Roddick will be seeking his fourth title this year on Sunday after victories at St. Polten, Queen’s and Indianapolis.
He has a 23-2 record since he joined forces with coach Brad Gilbert, who turned 42 on Saturday.
Roddick won the only match he played against Nalbandian, disposing of him 6-3 6-2 in the quarter-finals of last year’s hardcourt tournament in Toronto.
Nalbandian’s win over Schuettler in their fourth meeting of the year ensured that this event would be his best performance of the season, surpassing a semi-final appearance at Hamburg in May.
With the victory Nalbandian moved 4-3 ahead of Schuettler in overall results between the two but it was his first triumph on a surface other than clay.
Schuettler felt that a lack of consistency as the match wore on was the main reason for his defeat.
“He served pretty well and I didn’t return that well. My return is usually my strength and today I missed a lot,” Schuettler said.
LOS ANGELES: Top seed Kim Clijsters moved a step closer to becoming the world’s number one-ranked player when she battled past Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 7-5 6-4 in the semi-finals of the JP Morgan Chase Open on Saturday.
The 20-year-old Belgian will face second seed Lindsay Davenport in Sunday’s final after the American had earlier trounced Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-2 6-1.
Should she beat Davenport, Clijsters will become the first player to attain the number one ranking without winning a grand slam title since the WTA Tour introduced the system in 1975.
On a windy night, Clijsters struggled with her control against the 16th seed, who played an extremely aggressive and ambitious match.
Despite falling a break behind in both sets, Clijsters raised her game when it mattered, mixing top-spin lobs with groundstrokes to the corners.
Schiavone attempted to serve herself into a tiebreaker in the first set, but Clijsters broke to win the set when she forced a forehand error.
Trailing 2-4 in the second set, the Belgian held serve and then levelled the scores by breaking Schiavone with a delightful lob that the Italian couldn’t reach.
Clijsters served a love game then broke her opponent to win the match when the Italian netted a backhand after a long rally.
Davenport crushed the fourth-seeded Sugiyama in just 53 minutes with a powerful service and return game in stiflingly hot conditions.
Davenport was delighted with her performance.
Davenport and Clijsters are tied at 6-6 in head-to-head matches but the Belgian has won five out of their last six contests.— Reuters
