Advertisement

Help
You are here: Rediff Home » India » Sports » Tennis » Reuters > Report
Search:  Rediff.com The Web
Advertisement
  Discuss this Article   |      Email this Article   |      Print this Article

Robredo lines up Stepanek in Hamburg final
Get Sports updates:What's this?
Advertisement
May 20, 2006 22:04 IST

Spain's Tommy Robredo reached the final of a Master Series event for the first time on Saturday when he beat Mario Ancic of Croatia 7-5, 6-4 to set up a Hamburg final against Czech Radek Stepanek.

The Barcelona-based eighth seed, a former French Open quarter-finalist, edged a tight first set and completed his victory when Ancic netted a volley on match point.

The towering 22-year-old Croat looked short on energy, having battled back from a set down to win his last three Hamburg matches while Robredo had only dropped one set all week.

Earlier 15th seed Stepanek profited from an excellent start to defeat Argentina's Jose Acasuso 6-4, 7-6.

With the umbrella-like retractable roof over centre court closed to keep out the rain showers, the Czech broke the unseeded Argentine in the first game of the match.

That was enough to secure the first set and he sealed the second-set tiebreak 7-5 on his first match point when Acasuso netted a forehand.

"I was getting ready to play aggressively right from the beginning as I saw that Jose had incredible starts and was winning pretty easily the first sets in his matches," said Stepanek, runner-up at the Paris Masters event in 2004.

"I was trying to be focused right from the beginning and it paid off right away in the first game."

Stepanek, who will break into the world's top 10 for the first time regardless of Sunday's outcome, said he had received a message of congratulation from girlfriend Martina Hingis [Images].

The Swiss former world number one plays Venus Williams [Images] in Rome later on Saturday for a place in final of the Italian Open.

He also received glowing praise from his opponent.

"He serves really well and it's very difficult to read. And he mixes up his game with dropshots and slow balls and he never plays two balls the same way," said Acasuso.

World number one Roger Federer [Images] and Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal [Images] pulled out before the start of the Hamburg tournament due to fatigue after their marathon final at the Rome Masters last Sunday, won by Nadal.

The winner of Sunday's Hamburg final will be the 50th different Masters champion since the series began in 1990.



© Copyright 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
 Email this Article      Print this Article

© 2008 Rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer | Feedback