Rafter enters final

INDIANAPOLIS, AUG. 19. Rain washed out the second semifinal of the $ 800,000 RCA championships here on Saturday night, leaving Gustavo Kuerten and Goran Ivanisevic to battle it out on Sunday.

Already into the title match is fifth-seed Patrick Rafter, who beat last year's losing finalist Marat Safin of Russia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (9-7) before the wet weather blew in.

But a forecast which called for distant tornado alerts and rain came true, keeping the night match from ever starting.

Rafter, into his fourth straight final of the summer, came into his semifinal not having lost serve this week over 28 games. The two-time U.S. Open winner flirted with danger in the second game of the second set as he struck two double-faults but got out of trouble for 1-1.

But in the 12th game of the second, Safin managed to do what no other player in Indy had managed as he broke the Queenslander for 7-5 to level the match at a set each.

Bhupathi-Lareau in final

Mahesh Bhupathi with his Canadian partner, Sebastien Lareau, made the doubles final with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7- 5) victory over John Laffnie de Jager and Robbie Koenig of South Africa.

The eighth-seeded Indo-Canadian combination, which has already assured itself of $23,400 and 35 ATP points, will meet the winner of the other semifinal, that features fifth seeds Mark Knowles of Bahamas and Brian MacPhie of the U.S. against the seventh seeds Chris Haggard of South Africa and Tom Vanhoudt of Belgium.

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Section  : Sport
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