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SHANGHAI, Sept 14: Anna Kournikova moved a step closer to her first singles title by beating Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 7-5 in a thrilling semifinal at the Shanghai Open Saturday.
Kournikova dispatched the unusually error-prone Japanese, setting up a clash with top-seeded Anna Smashnova of Israel in only her fourth singles final in a seven-year professional career and her first shot at a WTA title since Moscow in 2000.
The 21-year-old’s inability to clinch a senior singles crown and her slide down the world rankings have prompted media suggestions that the much-photographed Russian is more of a model than a tennis player.
Kournikova, who pumped her arms in triumph after Sugiyama sent the ball over the baseline to lose the match, now has an excellent chance of finally silencing those critics in Sunday’s final.
Smashnova annihilated Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia 6-1, 6-1 in Saturday’s other semifinal.
Saturday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Semifinals: 1-Anna Smashnova (Israel) beat Angelique Widjaja (Indonesia) 6-1, 6-1; 4-Anna Kournikova (Russia) beat 2-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-4, 7-5.
SELES, DOKIC OUSTED
SALVADOR (Brazil): Eighth seed Eleni Daniilidou of Greece reached the Brazil Open final after fighting off apparent heat exhaustion to oust defending champion and second seed Monica Seles 6-1, 7-5 Friday.
Daniilidou faces third seed Anastasia Myskina on Saturday after the Russian put out top seed and last year’s runner-up Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia 6-2, 6-4.
In the men’s event, Gustavo Kuerten — playing at the tournament where the best spell of his career came to an abrupt end last year — reached his first ATP semifinal of 2002 by beating gallant Argentine Gaston Etlis 7-6, 6-1.
Former Australian, US and French Open champion Seles had not dropped a set before Friday but was crushed by her powerful and technically gifted opponent in the opening set.
The real drama came after Daniilidou, who won her first WTA title at s’Hertogenbosch this year, took a 5-4 lead in the second.
Play was held up as the Greek, who seemed to have difficulty breathing, was given medical attention but the 19-year-old opted to carry on even though she appeared to be on her last legs.
Despite looking completely exhausted, Daniilidou reached double match point only for Seles to save both and level at 5-5.
Daniilidou then held serve, again took a 40-15 lead and saw Seles save a third match point on her serve before wrapping up the match with a splendid crosscourt drive.
Friday’s results:
Men’s singles:
Quarterfinals: 6-Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) beat Gaston Etlis (Argentina) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1; Ramon Delgado (Paraguay) beat 8-Andre Sa (Brazil) 6-4, 7-5; Cecil Mamiit (US) beat 5-Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Guillermo Coria (Argentina) beat 7-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-2, 6-4.
Women’s singles:
Semifinals: 3-Anastasia Myskina (Russia) beat 1-Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia) 6-2, 6-4; 8-Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) beat 2-Monica Seles (US) 6-1, 7-5.—Reuters
