Venus Pulls From Toronto, Nadal Into Montreal Semis

Posted on August 13, 2005

Sharapova Pulls, Clijsters Rolls at WTA Los Angeles

The hot-handed Kim Clijsters is in the driver's seat at the WTA stop in L.A. with the withdrawal Friday of Maria Sharapova, who will have to wait until next week to assume the No. 1 WTA Tour Ranking for the first time.

"I'm extremely disappointed to have to withdraw because of the re-injury of a muscle strain that I sustained late last year and which has been bothering me all week," Sharapova said in a statement. "Reaching the No. 1 ranking has been a life-long goal of mine, and achieving it here in Los Angeles would have been a dream come true. I'm eager to get back to feeling 100 percent healthy and playing as soon as possible to restart my quest to become No. 1."

With the walkover win, No. 9 seed Daniela Hantuchova receives a free pass into the semifinals.

The No. 5-seeded Clijsters looked formidable in dispatching of No. 4 seed Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-2, setting up a semifinal meeting with No. 13 Francesca Schiavone, who beat former No. 2 Conchita Martinez 7-5, 6-4.

"The Russians play a similar type of game, they hit the ball hard and consistent -- I enjoy playing them," Clijsters said after dispatching of Petrova. "I kept her moving from side to side. I had to mix it up."

Also into the semis trying to salvage her down year is Russian No. 3 seed Elena Dementieva, who rolled past Italian qualifier Tathiana Garbin 6-1, 6-1.

Lined up for Saturday in L.A. are (9) Hantuchova vs. (3) Dementieva (Russian leads career meetings 6-2), (5) Clijsters vs. (13) Schiavone (Belgian leads 5-0), and in the doubles semis Dementieva/Pennetta vs. Spain's (2) Martinez/Ruano Pascual, and China's Li/Sun vs. Americans Haynes/Mattek.

Nadal Into Semis, Agassi Rained Out at ATP Montreal

Rafael Nadal made the semifinals Friday at the ATP Masters Series-Canada, but Andre Agassi will have to wait another night to see if he can come one step closer to a blockbuster Nadal-Agassi final in Montreal.

The top-seeded Nadal punished No. 8 seed Mariano Puerta 6-3, 6-1 in a rematch of this year's French Open final.

"He doesn't have the fastest serve, but he places it really well," Puerta said on the Nadal softball delivery. "He handles both the slice and the spin really well. It's a serve that when it kicks, it really kicks, and it's hard to read. It makes it that much more difficult to break him and to attack the serve."

The No. 4-seeded Agassi led No. 6 seed Gaston Gaudio 6-3 when the rains stopped play for the evening, with the match between un-seeds Greg Rusedski and Dominik Hrbaty never making it to the court.

Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Beck 1-and-2) did beat the rains to move into his career-first Masters Series semifinal, earning a match-up with Nadal.

"I never expected to make the semifinals here," Mathieu said. "I would have been kidding myself if I told myself before the tournament that I'd be in the semis."

Saturday's order of play will be Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. "Grinning" Greg Rusedski, (6) Gaudio vs. (4) Agassi (to finish), (1) Nadal vs. Mathieu, then (6) Gaudio or (4) Agassi vs. The Dominator or Grinning Greg.

"I'm playing really well this week," Nadal said. "I'm feeling good on court. Sure, I'd love to meet Agassi in the final but I learned my lesson a long time ago not to take anything for granted. Every match is a tough one and I've got to win my semifinal match before I get there. Mathieu is playing really well here -- it's not going to be easy against him."

The doubles Saturday will be Erlich/Ram vs. (3) Knowles/Nestor, (4) Black/Ullyett vs. (7) Bhupathi/Damm, (1) Bjorkman/Mirnyi vs. (4) Black/Ullyett or (7) Bhupathi/Damm, and Erlich/Ram or (3) Knowles/Nestor vs. (2) Bryan/Bryan. 

All-Russian Final Looms at WTA Stockholm

No. 2 seed Anastasia Myskina defeated Swede Sofia Arvidsson 7-5, 6-2 Friday at the WTA stop in Stockholm, moving one step closer to a likely all-Russian final.

In the semis Myskina will face unseeded Frenchwoman Emilie Loit, who defeated Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 7-5.

On the other side of the draw are Russian No. 3 seed Vera Douchevina (d. (6) Sucha from a set down), and (5) Katarina Srebotnik (d. (7) Castano from a set down).

Lining up for the Saturday semifinals are Loit vs. (2) Myskina (Russian lead career series 1-0), and (3) Douchevina vs. Srebotnik (Douchevina leads 1-0).

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