Federer gets past feisty Roddick

Tennis: Madrid Open: Mauresmo rallies to overcome Szavay

The Swiss maestro mixed up his game beautifully against the big-serving Roddick in the first set and clinched it with an exquisite drop shot.

He had chances to break for a 5-4 lead in the second, but Roddick held on and stormed back from 3-0 down in the tie-break to take the match to a deciding set.

Federer suddenly found a higher gear and three stunning passing shots set up a break in the second game.

He played an extraordinary shot from the baseline between his legs with his back to the net to keep himself in one rally, saved a break point in game five and broke again the following game.

Roddick saved three match points before sending a return long on a Federer second serve to put the Swiss through to face the winner of the quarterfinal match between fourth seed Andy Murray and fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro.

Former world number one Amelie Mauresmo fought back from a set down to beat Hungarian Agnes Szavay 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 on Friday and clinch a place in the women’s last four.

The French two-time Grand Slam winner looked to be regaining her form ahead of the French Open which starts at the end of this month.

She broke the Szavay serve in the first, third and seventh games of the third set and punched the air in triumph, when the Hungarian netted a forehand on the first match point.
Mauresmo will play Caroline Wozniacki for a place in Sunday's final after the Danish teenager defeated Vera Dushevina 6-0, 6-4 earlier on Friday.

Sania-Chuang through

Sania Mirza and her partner Chia-Jung Chuang advanced to the semifinals of the USD 4,500,000 Madrid Open after Russian-Belarussian duo of Victoria Azarenka and Elena Vesnina conceded their quarterfinal match, adds PTI from Madrid.

The unseeded Indo-Taipei duo were leading 2-0 in the first set, when their opponents pulled out due to an injury in Azarenka’s left knee.

Sania-Chuang will next face third seeds Lisa Raymond of the US and Kveta Peshke of Czech Republic in the last four stage.

The curtain came down on Prakash Amritraj’s singles campaign in the euro 64,000 Izmir Cup in Turkey but the Indian continued to progress in doubles and reached the semifinals along with Rajeev Ram, adds PTI from New Delhi.

Seeded eighth, Prakash lost 2-6, 4-6 to Czech Pavel Snobel in the singles competition of the hardcourt event.

Prakash and American partner Ram defeated Fredrerik Nielsen and Ken Skupski 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles quarterfinals to set up a clash with third seeds Russians Michall Elgin and Alexandra Kudryavtsev.

Meanwhile, Harsh Mankad and Kaes Van’t Hof cruised into the semifinals of the $50,000 Sarasota Open after edging past qualifiers Ty Bracewell and Derek Myers 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in straight sets in Longboat Key, United States.