The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Federer stretches winning streak

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Sunday, Aug 01, 2004

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Sport - Tennis

Federer stretches winning streak

TORONTO, JULY 31. Top-ranked Roger Federer stretched his winning streak to 21 matches by beating Fabrice Santoro 7-5, 6-4 on Friday to reach the Tennis Masters Canada semifinals.

Federer, who has won three straight tournaments since losing in the third round of the French Open, will play Thomas Johansson.

Defending champion Andy Roddick, the No. 2 seed, beat qualifier Jan Hernych 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the $2.5 million tournament.

Hernych, ranked 109th in the world, beat Gustavo Kuerten to advance to the quarterfinals but was no match for Roddick, who held serve at love to close out the match in just over an hour.

Roddick, whose serve has only been broken once in the tournament, said he watched Thursday's match between Kuerten and Hernych to prepare for the quarterfinals.

Roddick, who lost to Federer in the Wimbledon final earlier this summer, will play Nicolas Kiefer in the semifinals. Kiefer beat Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

A challenge

Federer conceded playing the unorthodox Santoro was a challenge. "He's a righty, but he plays forehand like a lefty so the ball comes to you as a backhand, like a slice," he said. "It's tough to take chances off the line. My advantage against him is I'm serving better than he does. That always gives me time to actually relax."

Federer's streak is the longest since Pete Sampras won 24 straight in 1999. Federer has also won the last three tournaments he's entered, including Wimbledon.

Johansson defeated Joachim Johansson 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the quarterfinals. Federer is 6-0 in his career against Johansson, who originally lost in the qualifying tournament but then ended up in the main draw when Taylor Dent withdrew with an injury.

A tough match

The eighth-seeded Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi recovered from being a set down and a break down in the second set to beat Jared Palmer of the US and Pavel Vizner of the Czech Republic 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in the doubles quarterfinals.

"It was a very tough match. We played a few good points to turn the match around. After breaking Palmer to get back into the match, we played a good tiebreak," said Mahesh.

The Indian team will take on the fourth-seeded Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada in the semifinals.

Myskina in semifinal

At Carlsbad, Anastasia Myskina's savvy paid off in a 7-5, 6-2 victory over the erratic Maria Sharapova in the Acura Classic quarterfinals on Friday night.

"I'm only 17," said Sharapova, who was visibly subdued and appeared near tears. "When I get to her age, I'll be a lot more experienced player and probably physically stronger. She's been around, she finds a way to win."

Serena Williams withdrew from the $1.3 million tournament on Friday because of swelling in her left knee, the same one she had operated on a year ago that kept her off the WTA Tour for eight months.

The results: at Toronto (ATP Tennis Masters): quarterfinals: Roger Federer bt Fabrice Santoro 7-5, 6-4; Andy Roddick bt Jan Hernych 6-4, 6-2; Nicolas Kiefer bt Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 6-1, 6-1; Thomas Johansson bt Joachim Johansson 6-3, 7-6 (5).

At Carlsbad (Acura Classic): quarterfinals: Elena Dementieva bt Amy Frazier 6-2, 6-1; Lindsay Davenport bt Ai Sugiyama 6-1, 6-3; Vera Zvonareva w/o Serena Williams; Anastasia Myskina bt Maria Sharapova 7-5, 6-2. — AP

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