The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Memorable day for Wawrinka

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Memorable day for Wawrinka

ROME: Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka was the first man to reach the Rome Masters semifinals here on Friday after he upset the eighth-seeded James Blake 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-1.

This is the first time that Wawrinka has reached a Masters Series semifinal, and it is his second semifinal in a row following his exploits in Barcelona last week.

The American had started well and battled hard to stay in the match despite frequently dropping his serve but crumbled in the end in the heat of the Italian capital.

Federer stretched

On Thursday, World No. 1 Roger Federer defeated giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6(4), 6-3 in his third round clash.

Federer had six break points against Karlovic in the first set but each one was saved by booming serves. Yet, in the first set tie-break, Federer made the breakthrough at 5-4 with a brilliant forehand return pass before a netted backhand from Karlovic handed him the set. In the second set, an increasingly dejected Karlovic’s serve was not so potent and Federer twice saw 0-40 on Karlovic’s serve to broke twice.

“It’s difficult to judge against Ivo, he has an unbelievable serve, the best in the game,” said Federer. “You don’t play much on the baseline and you’re always under pressure, but I’m playing well and feeling good.”

Safina stops Serena

Dinara Safina ended Serena Williams’s 17-match winning streak with a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(5) victory to reach the German Open semifinals in Berlin on Friday.

The 17th-ranked Russian kept pressuring Serena’s backhand, the same tactic that worked a day earlier when she upset the top-ranked Justine Henin.

Safina and Serena held serve throughout the final set, before the latter let a 4-3 lead in the tiebreaker slip away and sent a forehand long and wide to end the two-hour match.

“It’s not like I played my best and lost, it could be worse,” Serena said. “I can sit here and name 50 things I could do better.”

Serena, chasing a fourth straight title, appeared poised to improve on a 21-1 record this year without trouble until Safina’s hard shots began to land in the second set.

Serena was the 10th top-10 victim for the 22-year-old Safina, the sister of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin. “I think she’s playing far better than in the past,” Serena said.

Given the many upsets at the German Open, where 17 of the world’s top 20 players started, Serena said it would be hard to name a favourite for the French Open. “I’m excited I lost here and not in Roland Garros,” Serena said. “The pressure is off me.”

After a 2007 slump, Safina said last month’s win against Lindsay Davenport at the Sony Ericsson Open restored her belief in her ability to beat the top players. Safina broke twice to start the second set, whipping a shot past Serena at the net to take a 4-0 lead.

She will face Victoria Azarenka in Saturday’s semifinal, after the 18-year-old Belarusian ousted the 15th-seeded Alona Bondarenko 7-6(2), 6-2.

The results: At Rome (Rome Masters): Quarterfinals: Stanislas Wawrinka bt James Blake 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-1.