The Hindu : Sport : Federer extends winning streak

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 11, 2005

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Federer extends winning streak

HALLE (Germany): Two-time defending champion Roger Federer beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Gerry Weber Open.

Federer extended his winning streak on grass to 27 matches, the second longest in the open era after Bjorn Borg's 41 in a row from 1976 to 1981.

In other quarterfinals, second-seeded Marat Safin, still playing through knee pain, beat Olivier Rochus, 6-4, 7-6(4) and seventh-seeded Tommy Haas defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 7-5 to set up a semifinal showdown with top-ranked Federer.

Safin will play fourth-seeded Guillermo Canas, who defeated Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-4 for a last-four berth in the euro680,000 ($800,000) warm-up for Wimbledon.

Federer is preparing for an attempt on a third straight Wimbledon title. Kohlschreiber was playing his first tournament on grass.

``I have a good feeling after three matches here,'' Federer said. ``Today was a solid performance.''

Kohlschreiber was impressed.

``He served very well and made few errors. I was playing against the best player on grass and I played well in some stretches,'' the German said. ``He broke my serve once in each set and that was it. I had chances to break right back but I didn't use them.''

Federer improved his record for the year to 49-3. His last loss was on clay, at last week's French Open semifinals.

``I feel that with every match I get that extra bit of focus. Every time I step out again, I'm really improving,'' Federer said.

Roddick in last four

At Queen's Club, Defending champion Andy Roddick reached the semifinals at Queen's after struggling to beat Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-4, 7-6(5) at the Wimbledon tune-up event.

The second-seeded American, who beat Grosjean in the finals the last two years, is attempting to join Lleyton Hewitt and John McEnroe as the only players to win three straight Queen's titles.

Grosjean, who fought off five match points to defeat James Blake on Thursday, often played the crisper shots and showed greater skill at the net.

The Frenchman earned the first break point of the match at 2-2, but he made a forehand error and later lost the opening set with consecutive double-faults.

Grosjean started the second set with a break, but Roddick levelled at 3-3 by threading a backhand winner down the line.

``I felt like I had a little bit of a momentum, and then he played a pretty good game to break me,'' Roddick said. ``He put a lot of returns in off my first serve.

In the tiebreaker, Roddick earned two match points with a double-handed backhand pass. He lost the next point, but then won when Grosjean returned his serve long.

``I was kind of playing catch-up there in the second set,'' Roddick said. ``But I actually feel I hit the ball better in the second set than the first.''

Roddick meets fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek next after the Czech ousted 10th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Jankovic in semifinals

At Birmingham, third-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Mashona Washington 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the DFS Classic.

Jankovic's low, controlled topspin consistently made Washington volley up, setting up chances to pass the American with her next shot.

``A top 20 player is going to go for a few more shots and take more risks and chances,'' said Washington, the sister of former Wimbledon finalist MaliVai Washington. ``I'll handle it better next time.''

The results: At Halle (Gerry Weber Open): Quarterfinals: Roger Federer bt Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4; Tommy Haas bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 7-5; Marat Safin bt Olivier Rochus 6-4, 7-6(4); Guillermo Canas bt Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-4.

Second round: Juan-Carlos Ferrero bt Alexander Waske 7-6(5), 6-7(7), 6-3; Rainer Schuttler bt Dick Norman 6-3, 6-3.

At Queen's Club (Stella Artois ATP championships): Quarterfinals: Andy Roddick bt Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 7-6(5); Radek Stepanek bt Richard Gasquet 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; Thomas Johansson bt Tim Henman 6-4, 6-4.

Third round: Radek Stepanek bt Greg Rusedski 6-3, 7-6(4); Thomas Johansson bt Andrew Murray 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 7-5; Sebastien Grosjean bt James Blake 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(10).

At Birmingham (DFS Classic): Quarterfinals: Jelena Jankovic bt Mashona Washington 6-2, 6-4; Laura Granville bt Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-3.

Third round: Mashona Washington bt Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-4; Jelena Jankovic bt Milagros Sequera 6-1, 6-4; Eleni Daniilidou bt Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-3; Tatiana Golovin bt Rika Fujiwara 6-4, 6-4. — Agencies

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