Tennis roundup
Ginepri makes surprise run to RCA Championships finals INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Robby Ginepri came to the RCA Championships trying to jump start his career. Now he’s on the verge of winning his second career title.
On Saturday, the unseeded Georgia native followed the same plan that helped him upset two-time defending tournament champion Andy Roddick – stay calm, serve well and fight back. Ginepri rallied from a one-set deficit for the second straight day, this time taking out 10th-seeded Karol Beck 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
“I was really pleased with my will to fight today,” Ginepri said. “After a big win last night and being down a set, I was just trying to stay positive. Good things happen when I stay positive.”
Ginepri hasn’t been in an ATP final since winning at Newport, R.I., in 2003.
To earn another crown, Ginepri now must beat American Taylor Dent, the fourth seed, who defeated Great Britain’s Greg Rusedski 6-4, 6-4 in 71 minutes.
Cincinnati Open
MASON, Ohio – Top-seeded Patty Schnyder beat U.S. qualifier Bethanie Mattek 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the finals of the Cincinnati Women’s Open.
Schnyder will play Akiko Morigami of Japan, who defeated Daniela Hantuchova.
Mercedes Cup
STUTTGART, Germany – Rafael Nadal moved up to No. 2 in the world rankings after beating Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 7-5 to run his winning streak on clay to 33 matches.
The win lifted the 19-year-old Spaniard into the final of the Mercedes Cup, where he will face 2004 French Open champion Gaston Gaudio. The third-seeded Argentine advanced when Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko pulled out of their semifinal with the flu while trailing 6-3, 2-1.
“It’s a lovely situation to play against him – and try and take his record away,” Gaudio said.
Win or lose, Nadal will pass Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt in the rankings when they are updated Monday.
Priority Open
AMERSFOORT, Netherlands – Fernando Gonzalez of Chile overpowered Spain’s David Sanchez 6-2, 6-1 to move into the final of the Priority Telecom Open. Gonzalez will face Agustin Calleri, who beat Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 in the other semifinal.
Gonzalez’s serves and returns were too strong and accurate for Sanchez, who looked tired and unfocused. Sanchez double-faulted to surrender his first break in the sixth game of the first set.
The 27th-ranked Gonzalez broke Sanchez again in the second game of the second set to cruise to victory.
Gonzalez, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon this summer, has won two of three previous professional matches against Calleri, all on clay. He lost their most recent meeting at the quarterfinals of the Estoril tournament in 2003.
Palermo International
PALERMO, Sicily – Defending champion Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated Bulgaria’s Tszvetana Pironkova 6-4, 6-2 to reach the final of the Palermo International.
On Sunday, the third-seeded Medina Garrigues will play fifth-seeded Klara Koukalova, who beat Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-0 in the other semifinal.
Koukalova needed only 1 hour to defeat the second-seeded Pennetta, hitting several backhand passing shots on her way to her seventh final.
The 17-year-old Pironkova fired deep shots to pressure Medina Garrigues in the first six games – which all went to deuce – of the first set.
Medina Garrigues made the decisive break in the seventh game and broke her opponent twice in the first three games of the second set to win in 1 hour, 34 minutes.