Upsets continue in Los Angeles
August 1st 2009 08:30
A SURPRISE finalist is guaranteed at the Los Angeles Tennis Open after Carsten Ball and Leonardo Mayer booked an unlikely semi-final showdown overnight.
Both players will be appearing in ATP Tour semi-finals for the first time.
Argentine Mayer is enjoying the best year of his career and is ranked No.60 after finishing last season outside the top 100.
American Mardy Fish was unable to take to the court due to an oblique strain in his scheduled quarter-final against Mayer, who is more known for his claycourt prowess.
Australian qualifier Ball is an even bigger shock.
The 22-year-old is ranked 205 in the world, but has steamrolled Marc Gicquel, Dmitry Tursunov and John Isner en route to the semi-finals.
Ball, whose career-high ranking is 182, is guaranteed a significant climb in the rankings regardless of the semi-final result.
But it will be tough for either player to go all the way, with German top seed Tommy Haas or back-to-back finalist Sam Querrey, from America, facing off in the other semi-final.
Haas eased past Russian Marat Safin in straight sets in the quarter-finals, while Querrey proved too good for Israeli Dudi Sela.
Russian Igor Andreev is the lone seed out of the four semi-finalists at the Swiss Open.
Andreev earned his place with a 6-3 6-3 victory over in-form Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
He should win the tournament on his favoured claycourt surface.
But his semi-final opponent – Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci – will be no pushover.
Bellucci has beaten German Nicolas Kiefer and top-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in his past two matches.
Another Brazilian, Marcos Daniel, faces German Andreas Beck in the other semi-final.
The Croatia Open is a wide-open event, with an impressive semi-final line-up.
Nikolay Davydenko, bidding for back-to-back titles after winning last week’s German Open, faces Jurgen Melzer in his semi-final after topping Simone Bolelli.
Melzer faced four match points before overcoming Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.
Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion, meets Andreas Seppi after they defeated Maximo Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu respectively.
Expect Davydenko to emerge victorious again, but Ferrero ended a six-year title drought in Casablanca in April and has been in great form in recent months.
Elsewhere, Russian fifth seed Vera Dushevina has her best chance yet to win her maiden title after upsetting Spanish third seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarter-finals.
Dushevina has been as high as 31 in the world, but currently sits at No.49.
She will have to quell Swiss 20-year-old Timea Bacsinszky, who is in career-best form and lost just one game to Urszula Radwanska in the quarter-finals.
Bacsinszky is also striving for her first singles championship after reaching the semi-finals in Prague at her last start.
Czech world No.70 Lucie Hradecka takes on last week’s Bad Gastein winner Andrea Petkovic in the other semi-final and both have legitimate title chances.
Serena Williams may be the Wimbledon champion, but she won’t add this year’s Stanford Classic to her resume after going down to Australian Sam Stosur.
Stosur almost beat Williams in Sydney this year before losing 7-5 in the third set, but claimed 12 of the last 14 points this time to come out on top.
Stosur clashes with Marion Bartoli in her semi-final after the Frenchwoman ousted former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic.
Proceedings have been much smoother for second seed Venus Williams and third seed Elena Dementieva.
They will contest the other semi-final following dominant successes over Maria Sharapova and Daniel Hantuchova respectively.
Both players will be appearing in ATP Tour semi-finals for the first time.
Argentine Mayer is enjoying the best year of his career and is ranked No.60 after finishing last season outside the top 100.
American Mardy Fish was unable to take to the court due to an oblique strain in his scheduled quarter-final against Mayer, who is more known for his claycourt prowess.
Australian qualifier Ball is an even bigger shock.
The 22-year-old is ranked 205 in the world, but has steamrolled Marc Gicquel, Dmitry Tursunov and John Isner en route to the semi-finals.
Ball, whose career-high ranking is 182, is guaranteed a significant climb in the rankings regardless of the semi-final result.
But it will be tough for either player to go all the way, with German top seed Tommy Haas or back-to-back finalist Sam Querrey, from America, facing off in the other semi-final.
Haas eased past Russian Marat Safin in straight sets in the quarter-finals, while Querrey proved too good for Israeli Dudi Sela.
German Tommy Haas is into the semi-finals of the Los Angeles Tennis Open after eliminating Russian Marat Safin.
Russian Igor Andreev is the lone seed out of the four semi-finalists at the Swiss Open.
Andreev earned his place with a 6-3 6-3 victory over in-form Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
He should win the tournament on his favoured claycourt surface.
But his semi-final opponent – Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci – will be no pushover.
Bellucci has beaten German Nicolas Kiefer and top-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in his past two matches.
Another Brazilian, Marcos Daniel, faces German Andreas Beck in the other semi-final.
The Croatia Open is a wide-open event, with an impressive semi-final line-up.
Nikolay Davydenko, bidding for back-to-back titles after winning last week’s German Open, faces Jurgen Melzer in his semi-final after topping Simone Bolelli.
Melzer faced four match points before overcoming Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.
Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion, meets Andreas Seppi after they defeated Maximo Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu respectively.
Expect Davydenko to emerge victorious again, but Ferrero ended a six-year title drought in Casablanca in April and has been in great form in recent months.
Elsewhere, Russian fifth seed Vera Dushevina has her best chance yet to win her maiden title after upsetting Spanish third seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarter-finals.
Dushevina has been as high as 31 in the world, but currently sits at No.49.
She will have to quell Swiss 20-year-old Timea Bacsinszky, who is in career-best form and lost just one game to Urszula Radwanska in the quarter-finals.
Bacsinszky is also striving for her first singles championship after reaching the semi-finals in Prague at her last start.
Czech world No.70 Lucie Hradecka takes on last week’s Bad Gastein winner Andrea Petkovic in the other semi-final and both have legitimate title chances.
Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli knocked former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic out of the Stanford Classic to reach the semi-finals.
Serena Williams may be the Wimbledon champion, but she won’t add this year’s Stanford Classic to her resume after going down to Australian Sam Stosur.
Stosur almost beat Williams in Sydney this year before losing 7-5 in the third set, but claimed 12 of the last 14 points this time to come out on top.
Stosur clashes with Marion Bartoli in her semi-final after the Frenchwoman ousted former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic.
Proceedings have been much smoother for second seed Venus Williams and third seed Elena Dementieva.
They will contest the other semi-final following dominant successes over Maria Sharapova and Daniel Hantuchova respectively.
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