Federer Shaky, Nadal Injured, Sharapova Cruising on Grass

In the semis Hewitt will face unseeded Brit hope Tim Henman, who reversed an 0-3 career head-to-head mark against California-Russian Dmitry Tursunov with a 6-3, 7-6(1) victory.

"Lleyton is a great grasscourt player and has beaten me enough times," Henman said. "But at least I beat him the last time."

The other retirement was No. 13-seeded Frenchman Gael "Force" Monfils, who quit with a back injury after dropping the first set 1-6 against No. 5 seed James Blake.

The other semifinal Saturday will be an all-American affair as Blake takes on No. 3 seed Andy Roddick, who was at his grasscourt best in dispatching the free-swinging No. 6 seed Fernando Gonzalez 6-4, 6-2.

Hewitt has won eight of nine against Henman, losing their most recent meeting this year at Miami, while Blake is winless against Roddick in six attempts.  

Into the doubles semifinals Friday were (2) Bjorkman/Mirnyi (d (WC) Blake/Fish), (3) Knowles/Nestor (d. (6) Cermak/Friedl), (4) Hanley/Ullyett (d. (7) Black/Coetzee), and (1) Bryan/Bryan (d. (8) Arthurs/Gimelstob 10-7 in a match tiebreak).

Federer Wins Triple Tiebreak Affair at ATP Halle

Roger Federer has struggled all week on his favorite grasscourts on the heels of reaching the final at the French Open, and Friday was no different as the Swiss advanced into the semifinals by the narrowest of margins, defeating diminutive No. 7 seed Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-7(2), 7-6(9), 7-6(5).

"It was really close," said Federer, who fought off four match points. "It could have gone either way. I was definitely upset at being up three service breaks in two sets and not winning the match...I have the feeling that my opponents played very well, it's not that I'm playing badly."

Federer was also forced to come back from a break down in the third set, and with the victory kept alive his win streak at 39 consecutive grasscourt victories, two shy of the record mark of 41 held by Bjorn Borg.

Federer's road to a fourth consecutive Halle title and the continuation of his streak gets no easier in the semifinals when he faces former world No. 2 Tommy Haas, who defeated unseeded Swede Robin Soderling 7-5, 6-4.

The other semifinal will see No. 5 Tomas Berdych, who edged unseeded Frenchman Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro 7-5, 7-6(3), against No. 8 Kristof Vliegen who outlasted unseeded German Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4.

Federer is 6-2 career against Haas, winning their last five meetings dating to 2002, while Berdych and Vliegen meet for the first time.

The doubles semifinals Saturday are Allegro/Safin vs. (WC) Kohlmann/Schuettler, and Gasquet/Vliegen vs. (2) Santoro/Zimonjic.

Sharapova Title-Bound as Lone Seed at WTA Birmingham

The only Top 10 player in Birmingham this week, Maria Sharapova's road to the title became even easier Friday after the remaining four seeds were all defeated in quarterfinal matches.

The top-seeded Sharapova moved into the semis with a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 12 Mara Santangelo, and was joined in the final four by three unseeded players in Russian Vera Zvonareva (d. (2) Schiavone 6-1 in the third), and Americans Jamea Jackson (d. (4) Likhovtseva) and qualifier Meilen Tu (d. (6) Bartoli), who also ousted Sania Mirza earlier in the week.

"I'm really happy I managed to get it together in the third set," said the 21-year-old Zvonareva. "It was a tough match as Francesca is such a great player."

The two-time defending champ Sharapova raised her Birmingham record to 17-1 with the win.

"I knew she had a really good grasscourt game, so I had to be ready from the beginning," Sharapova said. "I felt very comfortable out there today and I seem to be improving as each round goes by."

Saturday's semifinals see Sharapova vs. Jackson (Sharapova leads career meetings 2-0) and Zvonareva vs. Tu (first-time meeting).

"I've known Meilen a long time, as we practice a lot," Zvonareva said. "I'm happy for her and she's happy for me. It won't make the match any different though."

DAILY TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
Who cares if you need it or not, show your love for Tennis-X, contribute to the fund, only eight bucks for one year of daily tennis news! Pay as you go! Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get their heads around the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. A year's subscription costs less than a meal and a pint. Get the Tennis-X Daily Dish in your e-mail in-box, even before it's posted on the web, by signing up for the net's most complete daily e-newsletter at http://www.tennis-x.com/subscribe.php

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARB
Try and digest this: Currently Russian teen queen and WTA marketing dream Maria Sharapova is the best player on grasscourts -- ever. Through the semifinals this week in Birmingham, the leggy former Wimbledon champ has a 91.9 career match winning percentage on grass, surpassing Steffi Graf's 91.5 career winning percentage on the lawns...Greg Rusedski has pulled from Nottingham with a leg injury, and Gael Monfils with a back injury...X-Discussion boarder consafos on Mats Wilander's comments on Roger Federer: "I like Mats going off all drunk and/or coked up in that interview...except it was scary how often he referenced the balls and pointed to his own. I was waiting for him to pull down his pants and get in the interviewer's face "SEE, THESE ARE BALLS MY FRIEND!" But really he was on the mark. I'm not sure if it was his balls or his brain, but Federer really played a losing match -- hanging on the baseline and trying to hit winners past Rafa on the slow dirt. I wish I had seen Rome, because the story I got there was that he really attacked."...From Tennis Week on the ongoing mystery of Steve Bellamy completely leaving The Tennis Channel: "The news shocked many in the tennis industry and some sources close to TTC continue to tell Tennis Week that while Bellamy was clearly exhausted from a draining work schedule that saw him tirelessly promote TTC virtually non-stop for the past three years, he did not depart voluntarily. There is speculation that Bellamy and [Ken] Solomon simply could not co-exist productively and that while Bellamy is a creative, free-spirited, outside-the-box thinker -- all qualities which enabled the Palisades Tennis Center owner to transform his dream from a TV test pattern into the world's first 24-hour cable network devoted to tennis and other racquet sports -- at this point in its development, TTC required a leader with practical experience in the day-to-day duties of running a network."...John McEnroe, blaming the ATP for the early retirement of Bjorn Borg, speaking with The Tennis Channel: "Vitas (Gerulaitis) and I thought he was joking. We thought, 'Look you just need some time off,' and the sad part is perhaps had it been handled better by the ATP, which supposedly was a union that was trying to help the players, instead of pressuring Borg into signing a commitment form that he'd have to play the next year, and allowing him the time to sort of rethink where he was, cause he was only 25 at the time. But basically they said 'If you don't sign this commitment form you cannot play at all the entire year, if you do you have to play qualifying.' It was like a huge black eye for our sport and it was a bummer for me because I felt like he was bringing out the best in me."...Maria Sharapova has fallen from 57 in 2005 to 63 this year on Forbes Celebrity 100 list.

Also see:
Friday Backhander: Grass Hardcourts, Federer Testy
http://www.tennis-x.com/story/2006-06-16/c.php