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STUTTGART (Germany) Oct 20: Yevgeny Kafelnikov became Max Mirnyi’s latest prominent casualty when he fell 7-6 7-3 to the hard-hitting qualifier from Belarus in their semifinal at the Stuttgart Masters Series tournament on Saturday.
Mirnyi, who had knocked out ATP Champions Race leader Gustavo Kuerten, Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and former world number one Pete Sampras on his way to the last four, extended his amazing run with an impressive win.
The towering 24-year-old will play either young Australian Lleyton Hewitt or home hope Tommy Haas in his first final at a major event on Sunday.
Russian Kafelnikov, the fifth seed, fought from one break down in each set but never really found the answer to the powerful tennis of his determined opponent.
Mirnyi, who had saved match points in three enounters earlier in the tournament, had no frights this time, sealing victory with a merciless smash after just 82 minutes.
Each player dropped serve once in a tight first set which went to a tie-break, Mirnyi taking it 7-3 with Kafelnikov sending a backhand across the court wide on set point.
Kafelnikov, a finalist here in 1998, trailed 3-1 when he broke Mirnyi back in the second set. But he lost his service game again immediately afterwards and Mirnyi then confidently cruised to victory.
Saturday’s results: (prefix number denotes seeding):
Semifinal: 15-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat 3-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 3-6 6-4 7-5 Max Mirnyi (Belarus) beat 5-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3
ZURICH: American Lindsay Davenport put the first blemish on Jennifer Capriati’s reign as world number one on Saturday when she eased into the final of the Swisscom Challenge with a 6-1 5-7 6-2 victory.
She will meet fourth-seeded Yugoslav Jelena Dokic who beat Nathalie Tauziat of France 6-2 6-2 in the other semi.
Davenport, champion here in 1998 and 1997, improved her Zurich record to a sparkling 14-1, sending the third seed through to her fourth final in her last five events.
Switzerland has always proved a happy hunting ground for Davenport, who will be appearing in her fourth Zurich final and can also count two titles from nearby Lucerne on her resume.
In fact, Davenport’s only loss in Switzerland came last year when falling to Martina Hingis in the Swisscom final.
Davenport immediately stamped her authority on the contest breaking a lethargic Capriati’s opening serve and surging in front 4-0.
When Capriati finally held serve it did little to ease her frustration, the Australian and French Open champion arguing several line calls with the chair umpire.
The outbursts did nothing to distract Davenport who remained focused breaking Capriati a third time to wrap up the opening set in just 17 minutes.
Capriati slowly began to find her game in the second set, twice trading breaks with Davenport.
Capriati recorded the decisive break to go in front 6-5 then held serve to force a third set.
But Davenport wasted no time retaking control, again breaking Capriati at the first opportunity as a prelude to closing out the match.
Saturday’s results:
Semifinals: 4-Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia) beat 5-Nathalie Tauziat (France) 6-2 6-2; 3-Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) beat 2-Jennifer Capriati (U.S.) 6-1 5-7 6-2—Reuters
