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INDIANAPOLIS, July 29: Russian third seed Dmitry Tursunov came through two matches on Saturday to book a place in the final of the Indianapolis Championships against Canada’s world No 109 Frank Dancevic.
Dancevic produced a stunning 6-4, 7-6 win over top seed Andy Roddick in their semi-final while Tursunov came through 6-1, 6-4 in his rain-delayed quarter-final against Japanese amateur Kei Nishikori before seeing off American Sam Querrey 7-6, 6-2 in the other semi-final.
It was a bad day for the leading seeds with Roddick's humbling and second seed James Blake going down 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 in another delayed last-eight match to Querrey, who posted 34 aces in the encounter, including nine in a row in the second set.
Dancevic is vying to be the first Canadian to win a tour title since Greg Rusedski won at Newport in 1993 and at Seoul in 1995 before deciding to become a British citizen.
Saturday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Semi-finals: 3-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) beat Sam Querrey (US) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; Frank Dancevic (Canada) beat 1-Andy Roddick (US) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1).
Quarter-finals: Querrey beat 2-James Blake (US) 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4); Tursunov beat Kei Nishikori (Japan) 6-1, 6-4.
VETERANS IN FINAL
UMAG (Croatia): Spanish sixth seed Carlos Moya reached the Croatia Open final when he beat Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-3, 6-2 to stay on course for his fifth title in Umag on Saturday.
In a final of veterans on Sunday, the 30-year-old Moya will play Romanian Andrei Pavel, 33, who had little trouble in beating Serb qualifier Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3 in their semi-final.
The Spaniard, who is looking for his 20th career title, took 90 minutes to overcome Canas, the fifth seed and tournament winner in 2004, for his second victory over the Argentine in three meetings.
Moya, the most successful player at the Croatia Open since its introduction in 1990, last won the title four years ago. Two years ago he was beaten in the final by Argentine Guillermo Coria.
SANIA STUNS BAMMER
STANFORD (California): India's Sania Mirza upset eighth seed Sybille Bammer 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 to reach the final of the Stanford Classic on Saturday.
The unseeded 20-year-old, whose only Tour title came in Hyderabad in 2005, outfought the Austrian under the hot sun in two hours and 14 minutes.
Mirza will face top seed Anna Chakvetadze, who overcame third seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Sania began the match crushing her huge forehand and powering her backhand crosscourt.
But in the second set, she began to play more conservatively and paid for it. She was broken four times, the last one in the final game, when she committed a forehand error on set point.
In the third set, Sania broke Bammer to 4-3 when she ripped a forehand down the line and the Indian won the match when she hit a forehand crosscourt winner on her fourth match point.
Chakvetadze recorded her ninth straight victory in the United States after out-running Hantuchova, who troubled the Russian with some aggressive groundstrokes.—Reuters
