Roddick Into Fourth Consecutive Houston ATP Final
Posted on April 19, 2004
Top-seeded Andy Roddick will face the resurgent German Tommy Haas in the Sunday final of the U.S. Claycourts in Houston. Roddick rolled past No. 7-seeded Peruvian Luis "Me So" Horna 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals, while Haas fought long and hard to conquer clay veteran and No. 5 seed Andrei Pavel 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4."That's the best I've served all week," Roddick said. "My arm felt great tonight, I don't think I was threatened at all on my serve. I got the break and cruised on both sets...I feel really comfortable here. It's a nice relaxing week to sort of kick off the claycourt season. It's definitely a good stepping stone for me and I'm thrilled to be back in the final here."
It is the fourth consecutive appearance in the Houston final for Roddick, who won the title in 2001-02, and last year lost to Andre Agassi.
Haas leads his head-to-head meetings with Roddick 3-0, with two of the meetings on clay. In the Saturday doubles semis, Blake/Fish d. Knowles/Nestor 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(2), and Leach/MacPhie d. Garcia/Horna 6-3, 6-4.
Russia's Marat Safin secured a place in the final at Estoril Saturday when Irakli Labadze of Georgia was forced to pull out with a back injury. Labadze was leading 3-2 in the first set when he decided he was not fit enough to finish.
"The injury happened first in Miami," Labadze said. "It just got worse and worse from playing too much." In the other semifinal, No. 5 seed Juan Ignacio Chela beat back German rookie qualifier Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-3. Safin has won all three of his career meetings with Chela, on clay, hardcourts and carpet.
In the Saturday doubles final, Chela and Argentine countryman Gaston Gaudio worked over top seeds Frantisek Cermak and Leos Friedl of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1 in just 59 minutes. "We like playing together and we would like to win one of the ATP Masters Series events," Chela said.
In the rain-delayed quarterfinals at Valencia Saturday, into the semis were (1)Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic), (6)Al Martin (d. C.Rochus), and Fernando Verdasco (d. (7)Ferrer), but two matches in one day was apparently too much for the top-seeded Ferrero to adjust to.
Later in the day, the Spaniard Verdasco pasted his top-seeded countryman Ferrero WTA-style 6-2, 6-1 in under an hour, and Al Montanes outlasted (6)Al Martin 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
"It's been a very bad match, I never found my game, felt uncomfortable on the court," Ferrero said. "I think Fernando didn't have much to do to win because I pretty much gave away the match. He started very strongly, playing very well. I probably went down on myself because I was missing a lot and more and more. It's been one of the worst days I've had in a long time. The fact that I played another match this morning had nothing to do with my loss this afternoon."
In the Sunday all-Spanish final it will be the first meeting between Verdasco and Montanes. The doubles final will be top-seeded Argentines Etlis/Rodriguez against unseeded Spaniards The Lopez Non-Brothers, Feliciano and Marc.
WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
No Williams sister has ever won in Charleston, but one will get a shot Sunday when No. 4 seed Venus Williams faces former champ and No. 16 seed Conchita Martinez. Both players cruised on Saturday in the semifinals, with Venus getting over a slow start to pound Jelena Kostanic 6-4, 6-1, and Martinez overcoming No. 11 Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-3.
Venus has won both her meetings with Martinez, but the two have not faced off since 2000, and never on clay. The doubles final will be (1)Ruano Pascual/Suarez vs. (2)Navratilova/Raymond.
No. 3 seed Emilie Loit and No. 6 Iveta Benesova both cruised into the final at Estoril Saturday in straight sets, with Loit beating Spaniard Marta Marrero 6-4, 6-4, and Benesova stopping France's Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-3, 7-5. In the doubles final the No. 2-seeded Swiss/Slovak pairing of Gagliardi/Husarova, playing together for the first time, beat the Czech pairing of Blahotova/G.Navratilova 6-3, 6-2.
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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Some notables forced to play the qualifying for next week's Masters Series-Monte Carlo are Thomas Enqvist, Richard Gasquet, Marc Rosset, Thomas Johansson, Wayne Arthurs, and Jan-Mike Gambill...Tommy Haas has not won an ATP title since the Masters Series-Stuttgart in October 2001...Roger Federer cited fatigue in his withdrawal from Monte Carlo, while Andre Agassi sited just not wanting to play...Lleyton Hewitt beat his fiancee Kim Clijsters 9-8 Saturday in a hit-and-giggle charity match which marked the Belgian's return to court after being sidelined for a month with a wrist injury, according to SI.com. In front of a sellout crowd of 3,500 in Clijsters' hometown, Hewitt came back from 6-4 down to win the best-of-17-games lighthearted exhibition. "I'm happy to be back on court and run," Clijsters said. Her left wrist was still heavily taped but at least the world No. 2 did not have to play with the brace she had been wearing for a month.