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ST PETERSBURG, Oct 29: Top seed and crowd favourite Marat Safin was knocked out of the St Petersburg Open quarterfinals on Friday, falling 6-4 6-1 to Michael Llodra. Coming off an impressive victory at last week's Madrid Masters, Safin stumbled after encountering stiff resistance from the seventh-seeded Frenchman.
Llodra broke the Russian's serve in the 10th game to claim the opening set before securing a break in the fourth game of the second to take a 3-1 lead. After that, the former world number one appeared to lose interest in the match as he surrendered the next three games to go out in less than an hour. The defeat ended Safin's seven-match winning streak.
In Saturday's semifinals, Llodra will now meet un seeded Slovak Karol Beck, who eliminated another Frenchman Cyril Saulnier 6-3 7-6. Safin had problems penetrating Llodra's steady serve and he also had a difficult time with Brazilian umpire Carlos Bernardes.
Results:
Greg Rusedski bt Ivo Karlovic 6-4 7-6 (9-7; Mikhail Youzhny bt Julien Benneteau (France) 6-0 6-1; Michael Llodra bt Marat Safin 6-4 6-1; Karol Beck) bt Cyril Saulnier 6-3 7-6(7-3).
Agassi IN SEMIS
STOCKHOLM: Andre Agassi marched into the Stockholm Open semifinals on Friday, beating Spanish eighth seed Fernando Verdasco 7-6 6-2 in his toughest match of the tournament. The 19-year-old Verdasco, untroubled by the crowd's support for the American, matched Agassi in the opening set as both dominated with their service.
Verdasco, specialising in aces, needed only to fight off one break point on the way to the tiebreak but failed to sustain his excellent game as top seed Agassi broke him in the tiebreak to 5-4 before serving out.
In the following set Agassi started to read Verdasco's serve, breaking the Spaniard to 2-0 and again to 6-2 to seal the match. In the semis the Las Vegan faces German fourth seed Tommy Haas, who defeated Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-3 7-6 earlier in the day. Both Haas and Agassi have yet to lose a set.
Results:
Michael Ryderstedt bt Joachim Johansson 3-6 5-3 Retired; Andre Agassi (bt Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7-4) 6-2; Tommy Haas (Germany) bt Olivier Rochus 6-3 7-6 (7-4)
LINZ OPEN
VIENNA, Oct 29: Quarterfinal results from the $585,000 Linz Open WTA tennis tournament on Friday:
Amelie Mauresmo) bt Ai Sugiyama 6-2 6-4; Jelena Jankovic bt Vera Zvonareva 6-4 6-4. -Agencies
