Stepanek Douses Davydenko Fire at ATP RotterdamPosted on February 26, 2006 No. 6 seed Radek Stepanek outlasted a weary No. 2 seed Nikolay Davydenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 Saturday in the semifinals at the ATP stop in Rotterdam, delivering 14 aces and coming back from a 1-3 deficit in the final set, closing the match out with five straight games.
"I'm very happy, I got great support from the crowd today," Stepanek said. "In the beginning of the match I did a couple of easy mistakes, but then I hit a couple of incredible shots and I could turn the match around." The Czech will have his best chance to date to turn around his 0-3 career mark in finals in the championship match, where he will face the diminutive unseeded Belgian Christophe Rochus, who breezed past Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 6-3. Rochus is also looking for his first career title, losing his lone finalist appearance in 2003 at Valencia. "If I look at all the great winners' names around the centre court, I want to see my name up there in the corner too," Stepanek said. "I know it will be a tough match. I'm very excited about it." The two players have split their two career meetings, both in 2002. The doubles final will be (2) Hanley/Ullyett (d. Knowle/Melzer in the semis in a match tiebreak) vs. Erlich/Ram (d. Berdych/Suk). |
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