Serena Into Miami Final, to Face Venus-Killer Dementieva

Posted on April 3, 2004

Serena Williams will get a chance to avenge her sister Venus's defeat when she takes on Russian Elena Dementieva in the Nasdaq-100 Open final at Miami.

Serena cruised into the final Thursday with an unwatchable workman-like 6-4, 6-4 win over Eleni Daniilidou, while Dementieva dispatched of fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-2.

"I can't say that I didn't expect to be in the final, I can only say that I didn't want to lose in the first round," said Serena, who threw down seven aces in the contest. "Physically this is great, but mentally it's awesome. I am really proud of myself because it's hard to come back."

The match was punctuated by some feisty play from Daniilidou, and hit-and-miss tennis from Serena, who has not been pressed at Miami with the Top 5-ranked players missing from the event.

Serena won her only meeting with Dementieva last year at Wimbledon, and will have to contend with the Russian's super-slow second-serve junk ball that confounded Venus.

"I think it's going to be too slow for her," Dementieva joked. "It's going to be kind of a drop shot for her."

On court today for the women are (1)Ruano Pascual/Suarez vs. (6)Petrova/Shaughnessy, and (4)Navratilova/Raymond vs. (2)Kuznetsova/Likhovtseva.

Roddick Pulls One Out of the Hat Against Moya in Miami

Andy Roddick mounted a comeback to advance into the semifinals at Miami Thursday, setting up an all-American confrontation with Vince Spadea.

The No. 2-seeded Roddick trailed No. 5 Carlos Moya 7-5, 2-6, 5-3 with the Spaniard serving at 30-15 before Moya clasped his hands around his throat for the giant choke. From 30-15 Moya double-faulted then produced two unforced errors, the second a forehand that sailed far over the baseline to hand Roddick the break. At that point Roddick applied the Babolat to win the next three games and the match.

"He was the better player pretty much all day. Lucky for me, I just think he got a little tight at the end," Roddick said. "He gave me a gift of a game when he was serving for it at 5-4. I would love to sit here and claim all credit for it and say I was just fighting and I was great and everything, but that's not really the case. Couple double faults, couple uncharacteristic misses on his forehand. I was able to maybe tough him out after that. The whole match was weird."

The unseeded Spadea produced a surprisingly easy win over No. 20 seed Agustin Calleri 7-5, 6-1, with the Argentine coming off a huge win over Andre Agassi. For Spadea, a win over Roddick would be a sweet statement after getting passed over for next week's Davis Cup match-up against Sweden.

Results in doubles quarterfinal play were (5)Knowles/Nestor d. Clement/Grosjean, (3)Bjorkman/Woodbridge d. (7)Paes/Rikl in three, and (1)Bryan/Bryan d. (6)Damm/Suk.

On today's menu in Miami is (21)Gonzalez vs. (3)Coria (Coria leads meetings 3-0), (2)Roddick vs. Spadea (Vincenzo leads 1-0), (3)Bjorkman/Woodbridge vs. (5)Knowles/Nestor, and (1)Bryan/Bryan vs. (8)Black/Ullyett.

2004 ATP MATCH WINS LEADERS
Andy Roddick now leads the ATP in most match wins in 2004 after reaching the Miami semifinals:

1. Andy Roddick 24-5 (1 title)
2. Roger Federer 23-2 (3)
3. Carlos Moya 21-4 (2)
4. Dominik Hrbaty 19-5 (3)
5. Lleyton Hewitt 16-3 (2)

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Mardy Fish is finding himself in the unenviable position of having to defend his No. 2 spot on the U.S. Davis Cup team in their upcoming match against Sweden: "Vince (Spadea) has been playing great, a lot of guys are playing well, but in the end of it, though, rankings don't lie," Fish said on a conference call Wednesday. "I'm ranked 17 in the world now and those guys (Spadea, James Blake, Taylor Dent, Robby Ginepri) are 35 or 40. I've played consistently well the past couple of months." Also helping out Fish's cause is his 6-1 record against Swedish players recently. The match in Delray Beach, Florida, will be a short drive from his parent's home. "My mother has never watched me play Davis Cup, so I'm excited about that, and my best friend since I was 5 is going to sing the national anthem, so it's going to be great for me. I'll have a lot of family and friends there."...14-year-old Sesil "The Mouth" Karatancheva in an interview with Bulgaria's Sofia News Agency on her experience at Indian Wells: "Once they even mistook me for (Anna) Kournikova while I was doing my practice. I am okay with that, although the first time they compared me to her I thought, 'Am I really such a bad player?' Now I know what they mean is I'm just as pretty. This is a compliment, but really no big deal." The precocious youngster says she is close to signing a contract with Nike...Fabrice Santoro has made up with French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget and the French team, opening the door for representation after their April match against Switzerland. Forget had accused Santoro of creating tension on the team, but they all made nice after a meeting in Miami. "I had already spoken with Fabrice but this was the first time it went so well," Sebastien Grosjean said in L'Equipe. "He told us what he really thought."...It's looking more and more like Goran Ivanisevic will hang it up at this year's Wimbledon: "I always said I was coming back to Wimbledon. Last year I was close -- I was in the neighborhood -- but I didn't play. Hopefully this year I'm going to step onto the grass. I think I owe it to myself and to the English crowd who have supported me so well."...Rainer Schuettler says Germany is ready to end its embarrassing stint in the Davis Cup minor leagues after being banished from the World Group in 2003: "There is definitely the team spirit there. I have a good relationship with Tommy (Haas) and Nicolas (Kiefer)...In the past it was often the case that somebody was injured and couldn't play, somebody didn't want to play for whatever reason, but if we have a chance for our whole team to play I think we have a strong team and can go very far...To be successful in Davis Cup is one of my goals this year and the first step is to beat Israel and then have a chance to get into the World Group again."...It has been reported that Enrique Iglesias gave a $5 million ring to arm candy Anna Kournikova...Some reader feedback from Larry O.: "My postman has a better second serve than Elena (Dementieva). Her's is the worst on tour. Cliff (Drysdale) at ESPN called it the 'sidewinder' I think it should be called the 'netfinder.'"...Denmark forfeited their Davis Cup match ay Algeria rather than flying into the unstable country, the ITF is investigating.