Golf
Roddick, Haas in Memphis final MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Andy Roddick got a little revenge Saturday against Andy Murray for last weekend’s semifinal loss in San Jose, beating the young Scot 6-3, 7-6 (4) to advance to the final of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.
“You don’t want to go out of a tournament to the same guy two weeks in a row,” Roddick said. “I probably wouldn’t have been much fun to be around tonight if that would’ve happened.”
Ranked fourth in the world, Roddick had lost three of his first four matches with the 19-year-old Murray. But the top-seeded American broke Murray when serving for the second set and fought off a set point to hold serve and force the tiebreaker, which he finished off with a pair of 130 mph aces.
Roddick will play defending champion Tommy Haas, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Mardy Fish, in the first meeting of the top two seeds at this tournament since 1987 when Stefan Edberg beat No. 1 seed Jimmy Connors.
Venus Williams was set to play Shahar Peer of Israel in the Cellular South Cup championship Saturday night. Williams, sidelined since October because of an injured left wrist, is aiming for her 34th career title.
Roddick, who won here in 2002, reached his third final in Memphis and first since the U.S. Open last September using his powerful serve. He served up 15 aces, hitting 136 mph in the opening game. He broke Murray in his first service game and won the first set in 31 minutes.
“I definitely kept the match more at the baseline today,” Roddick said. “I don’t know if that was better or worse. I just didn’t want him dictating the points and what was happening with those short little chips.”
The 13th-ranked Murray had won eight straight matches going back to San Jose, which he won including that victory over Roddick. But he said he was lethargic to start and hit repeated shots wide or into the net.
Murray fought off a break point in the first game of the second set, which seemed to give him a boost. He broke Roddick in the eighth game and went up 3-5, which upset Roddick. But serving for the set, he fell behind 0-40, and Roddick broke him easily as Murray hit a backhand long.
Henin beats Mauresmo to capture Dubai Open
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Top-seeded Justine Henin beat Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 7-5 on to win the Dubai Open for the fourth time.
The Belgian player beat the second-seeded Frenchwoman in 1 hour, 42 minutes to add to her titles of 2003, 2004 and 2006.
It was Mauresmo’s second consecutive final, after she won in Antwerp, Belgium, last week.
The second-ranked Henin was playing in her second tournament of the year. It was Henin’s 30th title on the WTA Tour and her seventh win against third-ranked Mauresmo out of 13 matches.
“It’s just amazing. I am so delighted,” said Henin. “I think I played a very good match today, against a very good player … To win against someone like Amelie, and to win a title in only my second tournament back, it is just great.”
Henin took control with 21 forehand winners, against 10 for Mauresmo, who was let down by weak second serves. Mauresmo won 31 percent of the points on her second serve, compared to 54 percent for Henin.
Henin raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set before Mauresmo settled down and pulled back to 4-4. But Henin broke her again in the 10th game to win 6-4.
It was much closer in the second set, and Mauresmo had a chance to go 2-0 up but Henin saved the break point with a brilliant backhand winner.
Garbin, Vinci advance to Bogota final
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – Top-seeded Tathiana Garbin set up an all-Italian final in the Copa Colsanitas, beating defending champion Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 6-3, 6-1.
Garbin will face sixth-seeded Roberta Vinci, a 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 winner over second-seeded Flavia Pennetta, also of Italy.
Ljubicic, Youzhny advance to ABN AMRO final
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands – Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic advanced to the final of the ABN Amro tournament on Saturday with a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) win over top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.
Ljubicic’s opponent in today’s final will be Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, who saved three match points to beat fifth-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5.
Di Mauro in first final in Buenos Aires
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Alessio Di Mauro of Italy defeated Diego Hartfield 6-1, 6-4 to advance to his first final of his career at the Copa Telmex.
Di Mauro will face Juan Monaco of Argentina, who beat fourth-seeded Nicolas Almagro 6-1, 7-6 (3) on the outdoor clay of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
Hartfield committed numerous unforced errors, enabling Di Mauro to take a 3-0 lead in the first set and claim two breaks of service. Hartfield held his serve only in the fourth game.
Di Mauro broke Hartfield to open the second set.
In the other semifinal, Monaco said he was determined to win in straight sets. He broke Almagro on his first service and then again, capitalizing on a series of unforced errors.