CARLSBAD (California), Aug 6: China’s Shuai Peng ended Belgium’s Kim Clijsters winning steak on American hardcourts with a 6-4 6-4 upset in the quarterfinals of the San Diego Classic on Friday. Peng will face France’s Mary Pierce, who earlier beat fifth seed Patty Schnyder 6-4 6-3.
The No. 46-ranked Peng put on a powerful and riveting performance, putting Clijsters on the defensive throughout. Even though the Belgian tried to mix up her tactics, she was unable to crack Peng’s relentless attack from inside the baseline.
Clijsters had not lost a match on the U.S. hardcourts since she was beaten by compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne in the 2003 U.S. Open final, but was unable match Peng on Friday. She compared Peng to a faster version of the nine-times grand slam champion Monica Seles and said it was difficult to read her.
A Japanese player will be in the final after Ai Sugiyama routed 15-year-old Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva 6-1 6-2 and Akiko Morigami defeated 18-year-old Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-3 6-4 to progress to a semi-final encounter. At the French Open in June, the sixth-seeded Pierce needed 11 match points to beat Schnyder in a long three-set contest.
Quarterfinal results:
Mary Pierce (France) bt Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 6-4 6-3; Ai Sugiyama (Japan) bt Sesil Karatantcheva (Bulgaria) 6-1 6-2; Shuai Peng (China) bt Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 6-4 6-4; Akiko Morigami (Japan) bt Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 6-3 6-4.
WASHINGTON: Top seed Andy Roddick overcame a 29-ace performance by Ivo Karlovic and advanced to the semifinals of the Washington Classic with a 6-7 7-5 6-4 victory on Friday.
In a match-up of two of the game’s top power players, Roddick scored the decisive service break in the ninth game of the final set when Karlovic opened with two double faults. The 6-foot-10 Croatian dug himself into a love-40 hole and Roddick took the game two points later to grab a 5-4 lead. Roddick, who had 19 aces, easily served out the match.
The heat exceeded 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) on court and sapped Karlovic’s energy as the match progressed. Karlovic had 15 aces in the opening set, eight in the second, but managed only six in the final frame. His first-serve percentage fell to 52 percent in the final two sets, down from 75 percent in set one.
There were few rallies in the two-hour match with both players’ serves dominant. Roddick never faced a break point while Karlovic was broken twice.
Srichaphan advanced with a 6-4 7-5 victory over Peru’s Luis Horna.
Quarterfinal results:
Andy Roddick bt Ivo Karlovic 6-7(7) 7-5 6-4; Paradorn Srichaphan bt Luis Horna 6-4 7-5; Tomas Berdych bt Bobby Reynolds; 7-6(5) 7-6(9); James Blake bt Arnaud Clement 6-3 6-2
SOPOT (Poland): Results from the Sopot Open Men’s Singles Quarterfinal matches on Friday:
Gael Monfils (France) bat Victor Hanescu (Romania) 6-3 6-3; Guillermo Coria (Argentina) bt Igor Andreev (Russia) 6-4 7-6 (5); Potito Starace (Italy) bt Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 4-6 6-4 6-4; Florian Mayer (Germany) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-2 6-2.—Agencies
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