Williams Wounded, Hingis Halted, Americans Win Hopman Cup

On Saturday the 23-year-old Pennetta will be seeking her fourth career title when she faces unseeded 18-year-old Lucie Safarova, who ousted No. 3 seed Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 in her semifinal.

Safarova's upset run at Gold Coast has also included wins over No. 6 Ai Sugiyama and top-seeded Patty Schnyder.

It will be a career-first meeting between Safarova and Pennetta, while the doubles final will see (1) Black/Stubbs (d. (WC) Golovin/Hingis by walkover in the semifinals) square off against (2) Safina/Shaughnessy (d. (3) Medina Garrigues/Pennetta 7-6 in the third).

Petrova, Hantuchova Shocked in WTA Auckland Semis

The WTA stop in Auckland lost its top two seeds Friday when No. 8-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva rolled over weary No. 2 seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-2, and top-seeded Nadia Petrova was forced to retire with a left groin strain against No. 6 seed Marion Bartoli after trailing 1-2 in the third set.

"The conditions were very tough and Vera just dealt with it much better," said Hantuchova, who seemed bothered by the swirling winds and was recovering from a three-setter the previous day. "I think if she plays like this there's no reason she can't get back to the Top 10. She's got a great game because there's not much that can really go wrong as she's very solid from both sides."

Petrova's injury now adds her to the long list of doubtfuls for the Australian Open.

"It's not too bad but it could've been worse if I had continued to play," Petrova said.

Zvonareva will be the favorite in the final, beating Bartoli in all three of their career meetings without dropping a set.

The Saturday doubles final will see Zvonareva and Russian compatriot Elena Likhovtseva facing No. 4 seeds Emilie Loit and Barbora Strycova for the title.

Federer Houses Haas, Faces Monfils in ATP Doha Final

World No. 1 Roger Federer will face a test from the next generation after Friday advancing to the final at the ATP stop in Doha with a 6-3, 6-3 win over former No. 2-ranked German Tommy Haas.

"I didn't think too much about this match because I have a feeling that Tommy is a bit predictable...The conditions were slow today so it was difficult to make a lot of winners," Federer said. "I had to work hard to prepare the rallies correctly. It was another good match, I've had no complaints this week. The crowd was very much into the match and I really enjoyed that."

In the final the Swiss will be tested by the athletic French teen and No. 7 seed Gael Monfils, who defeated unseeded Italian Filippo Volandri 6-3, 6-4 to gain the final. Last year Monfils won his first career title at Sopot, and losing in championship matches at Metz and Lyon.

Federer is the defending champion at Doha, and will face Monfils for the first time.

"This is my fourth final and I just hope to enjoy myself and play my game," Monfils said. "Previously I haven't been able to do that in finals. It's great to meet the No. 1 player in the world, it will be a good experience for me."

The top-seeded pairing of Jonas Bjorkman and Max "The Beast" Mirnyi won the doubles title Friday, defeating Belgian's unseeded Rochus brothers, Christophe and Olivier 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the third-set match tiebreak.

Dominator, X-Man Roll into Semis at ATP Adelaide

2004 Adelaide champ Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty moved into the pole position Friday, with the No. 2-seeded Slovak sweeping into the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3 win over unseeded Dane Kenneth Carlsen at the Australian Open warm-up.

"I'm very happy to be in the semifinals here again," said Hrbaty, who saved seven of eight break points against Carlsen in the first set before settling down in the second. "I played well from the baseline and served better as the match went on. It's great to play well at the start of the year because I think it is important to play well after a two month break."

The only other seed standing, No. 6-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, also advanced into the semis with a convincing straight-set win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

The other two semifinal berths were grabbed by unseeded players with Florent Serra ousting No. 7 Jarkko Nieminen in three sets, and Belgian Xavier "X-Man" Malisse going mutant on Andreas Seppi 6-0, 6-1.

"I'm really happy that I can play like this only two or three matches into the year," Malisse said. "I barely made a mistake in the first set and I was just a little tentative in the first game of the second set. I'm feeling fit and everything was going well and I'm definitely happy with the way the form is going. There are some days where everything just goes well and I'm quite happy that it is happening so early in the season."

Saturday's match-ups will be Serra vs. (2) Hrbaty, and (6) Berdych vs. Malisse.

Ljubicic, Moya Remain Favorites in ATP Chennai Semis

Top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic turned a potentially tough match into a walkover Friday at the ATP stop in Chennai when he pasted dangerous lefty and No. 5 seed Gilles Muller, who defeated Andy Roddick at the US Open, 6-1, 6-3 to advance into the semifinals.

"It was a much easier game than I expected," Ljubicic said. "He missed a couple of balls in the beginning which he shouldn't have and basically never came back after that."

In the semis the Croat will face unseeded Belgian Kristof Vliegen, who ousted leg-injured No. 4 seed Paradorn Srichaphan 6-1, 6-2.

In the second semifinal on Saturday, No. 2 seed Radek Stepanek (d. Ascione in the quarters) faces two-time defending champ and No. 3 seed Carlos Moya (d. (7) Phau 6-1 in the third).

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X-CORRECT
Finland's Jarkko Nieminen married Anu Weckstrom, Finland's No. 1-ranked badminton player, in 2005.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Serena Williams withdrew from the Hong Kong exhibition Friday citing her ongoing knee problem: "I've developed some swelling in my knee and was advised that I shouldn't play. I don't know what to say. I feel really, really awful, it's ruined my whole day to say the least -- my whole week."...Feb. 5 is the deadline to register for WTA Tour Whirlpool Fantasy Tennis...Let's run down the list of top women's players suffering the "fluke" (as WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott has described it over the last few years) injuries plaguing the WTA Tour entering the Australian Open: Maria Sharapova (pec, shoulder), Martina Hingis (hip), Venus Williams (hip, back), Serena Williams (knee), Nadia Petrova (groin), Jelena Dokic (abductor muscle), Mary Pierce (leg), Ana Ivanovic (pec)...Aussie Rennae Stubbs speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald on her pal Jelena Dokic: "I support her coming back and trying to get her tennis career back on track, but all those people who put so much time and effort into her, she'd better not let them down again. If Jelena doesn't want anybody to think, 'You've just come back here for the money,' then she'd better show it, and she'd better not go running off when things don't go so good. She has to grow up a lot and put her best foot forward, and I don't think that's going to be easy for her...My heart just breaks for her. It shouldn't happen to somebody who's such a good person and who's worked so, so hard, and I don't know if she's ever going to come back. It's definitely wait and see, but every now and then I think, 'God, I hope she can come back.' This is as big a loss to Australian tennis as what Monica Seles was to women's tennis in the '90s."...Martina Hingis on her loss at Gold Coast: "It was just a lot of tennis this week, you know, I'm not used to that, and with the doubles as well, I probably just didn't expect myself to come that far. You can't expect always everything to be perfect with your body when you just haven't done that much in three years. I just have to go on positive with the head up, chin up, and compete as well as I can in Sydney (next week)...You just have general doubts about yourself when you see those big, strong girls. I'm probably half the size of most of them -- they are all much more muscular, but I've got the skills and the game and I showed that this week, so I'm very proud and happy about it."...The American team of Taylor Dent and Lisa Raymond won the Hopman Cup exhibition, defeating the Netherlands in the final...Tommy Haas has a new coach in Thomas Hogstedt...India's Sania Mirza says she needs time to develop: "I think everyone expects me to do all kinds of things, probably things I can't even do, but that's just the part of the package that comes with playing well. You have to take it in your stride. In some ways it does motivate me too. I like the pressure, and I think the day I stop liking the pressure will be the day I'll say I don't want to play any more. I like playing when people are expecting things."...Reuters with the latest from the hilarious world of Chinese tennis: "China's top player Peng Shuai will have to give a written guarantee of a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics if she wants financial help from her country to turn professional, Chinese media said on Friday. The hard hitting 19-year-old amateur, who reached a career-high ranking of 31st in the world in August, said in December she wanted to leave the national set-up and strike out on her own. National Tennis Management Centre director Sun Jinfang said on Thursday that Peng had approached her about leaving the team and she had agreed on condition the teenager took full responsibility for herself, Titan Sports reported. "Later she came back and said she wanted financial support so she could go out on her own," Sun said. "I said fine, but first you have to sign a promise that you will win gold at the Olympics. "Our budget is completely aimed at the 2008 Games. Who could agree to letting you give up your Olympic duties to go professional?" Peng, who trains most of the year in Florida, has had the most success of China's emerging women tennis players."...From Matt Cronin at tennisreporters.net: "Maria Sharapova is none too thrilled about [Martina] Hingis' comments that she has "nothing special." The feeling around the Sharapova camp is that what goes around will come around, probably in the form of Maria having a "special" snack on Hingis' second serves."