German Tommy Haas put an end to Russian Marat Safin's hope for
his fourth title at the Paris Masters tennis tournament here on
Friday.
Haas defeated Safin 7-6 (7-1), 3-6 and 6-3, keeping alive his
chance for the Masters Cup, the end-of-season tournament in
Shanghai, China.
Despite his win, 10th seeded Haas still needs to win the final
on Sunday to overtake American James Blake for the last spot.
Earlier Friday, Croatia's Mario Ancic saw his hopes of making
the trip to China dashed when he was defeated 6-3, 6-3 by fourth
seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko.
Haas will face Slovakia's 17th seed Dominik Hrbaty in the
semi-finals on Saturday while Davydenko takes on Spanish sixth seed
Tommy Robredo.
Davydenko and Robredo have already made sure of their places at
the Masters Cup, which starts on November 12, after Roger Federer,
Rafael Nadal, Ivan Ljubicic, Andy Roddick and David Nalbandian all
skipped the Paris tournament.
The 28-year-old Haas who beat Safin in five sets in the fourth
round of the US Open in August, edged the first set tiebreak on
Friday despite the Russian not having faced a break point.
Safin, the champion in 2000, 2002 and 2004, broke in the eighth
game of the second set on his way to leveling the tie but Haas
enjoyed the crucial breakthrough to lead 3-1 in the decider and he
wrapped up the match when Safin hit long.
It was only Safin's third defeat in the tournament in 26
matches.
Despite missing out on Shanghai, Ancic said he was proud to have
got so close after battling back from a knee injury suffered in a
jet-ski accident in July, which kept him off the tour for three
months.
Davydenko was an impressive victor sending down 22 winners to
Ancic's nine.
The solid, steady Russian, who spent just 36 minutes disposing
of Christophe Rochus without losing a game in the second round,
will now face Robredo after the Spanish sixth seed reached his
third Masters Series semi-final of the season by beating Finland's
Jarkko Nieminen 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
The 24-year-old Robredo is trying to become the first Spaniard
in 20 years to reach the Paris final.
Hrbaty booked his semi-final place by beating defending champion
Tomas Berdych, the eight seeded Czech, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2006)