CINCINNATI, 21 August 2005 — World No. 1 Roger Federer rolled into the semifinals of the Cincinnati Masters on Friday while fourth seed Marat Safin was dumped out by American wildcard Robby Ginepri.
Fifth seed Andy Roddick battled past Russian Mikhail Youznhy 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and now plays third seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, who saw off sixth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-3.
Top seed Federer let slip an early lead in the first set when his Argentine opponent Jose Acasuso recovered from 3-0 down to 3-3.
But once the Swiss, in his first event since he won a third consecutive Wimbledon title, had taken the first set it was plain sailing as he clinched a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
“I have the feeling I’m back,” Federer said.
“My confidence is back. You lose it when you don’t play, and you’ve got to earn it again. I am really happy with the way I’m playing now.” Federer will meet Ginepri in the last four after Safin, who had impressed in his victory over Dominik Hrbaty in the previous round, was dumped out 6-2, 6-3 in 56 minutes.
With Ginepri cutting down on the unforced errors, Safin self-destructed, smashing a ball out of the stadium and throwing his racket in disgust at his performance “I just tried to stick to my game, that’s what I’ve been doing all week,” said Ginepri, who won the title in Indianapolis earlier this summer.
“This is definitely the best I’ve been playing and all the hard work I’ve been doing is paying off.” Safin, who is still struggling with a left knee injury, said he had half-expected a bad performance.
“I woke up this morning and didn’t have any energy,” he said. “I couldn’t really run enough and it’s a little bit to be expected as I couldn’t practice for a month and a half.
Roddick had not lost his service on the way to the last eight, but he was broken twice as Youzhny stormed through the first set. But the former US Open champion became more aggressive and that paid dividends as he levelled the match and then broke in the fifth game of the decider on the way to victory.
In Friday’s final match, Hewitt moved into the semifinals for the fourth time in six years.
The Australian, runner-up to Andre Agassi last year, proved too consistent for Davydenko, breaking early in the first set and cruising into the last four.
Mauresmo Moves On to Semifinals in Toronto
In Toronto, defending champion Amelie Mauresmo of France advanced to the semifinals of the $1.3 million Rogers Cup Friday night when her quarterfinal opponent, Russian Nadia Petrova, had to retire in the third set of their match.
The second-seeded Mauresmo was leading the match 4-6, 7-5, 2-0 when Petrova had to retire to due to a right chest muscle injury, which she picked up earlier in the week.
Petrova called time out after the first game of the third set and received treatment on the injury. She played one more game before telling the chair umpire she was unable to continue.
The match started Friday afternoon, but a severe thunderstorm resulted in the match being suspended and added to the evening session with the score tied 4-4 in the first set.
When play resumed in the evening after a four-hour delay, Petrova broke her opponent and then took the first set. But Mauresmo battled back to take the second before Petrova had to retire when the injury became too much to bear.Mauresmo’s rally from being down a break point during an entertaining second set seemed to discourage the sixth-seeded Petrova, who was favoring her shoulder for much of the match.
Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, the fourth seed, will face Mauresmo in one semi-final. Henin-Hardenne defeated Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 7-6 Friday night, having to endure a one-hour rain delay before closing that match out late Friday.
Russian Anastasia Myskina of Russia, the ninth-seed, played with a splint on her sprained left ankle but still managed to defeat Argentina’s Gisela Dulko 6-4, 7-5 to also advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
Myskina turned her ankle in her match Thursday and needed treatment just to continue playing. She then had therapy on the ankle late Thursday night with another session before her match. The other quarterfinal played Friday afternoon before the rains hit was no contest, as seventh-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium destroyed Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 6-0, 6-1.
Clijsters will meet Myskina in the second semifinal Saturday evening.
The tournament has been plagued by numerous injuries and withdrawals, as seven of the top-20 ranked players either retired or withdrew during the week. But it will end with three former No. 1 world ranked players, and one No. 2 ranked player, in the semis.
