Paradorn beats Robredo for Stockholm Open final
Stephan Nasstrom, Associated Press, Stockholm, Sweden
Paradorn Srichaphan continued his remarkable run through the Stockholm Open on Saturday, beating Tommy Robredo 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 to advance to the final of the US$ 650,000 tournament.
Paradorn, one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour, will play the winner of a later semifinal between Marcelo Rios and Hicham Arazi.
It was Paradorn's 24th victory in his last 30 matches. Over that span, the No. 7 seed from Thailand claimed his first career title at Long Island in August, reached the final in Washington, was in the semifinals at Tashkent and Tokyo and recorded his best-ever Masters Series performance with a quarterfinals showing at Madrid where he knocked out former world No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten and Tim Henman.
The turning point of the match came in game 4 of the decisive set when Paradorn's sliced backhand passer down the line earned him a double break point at 15-40. Robredo's lob then sailed long on the next point, giving Paradorn a 3-1 lead.
Paradorn, who had saved two break points in the previous game, then took his own serve at love, broke Robredo again to lead 5-1 and held on to clinch his fourth final berth of the year.
The Thai, who has steadily risen in the ATP rankings in the past year and will move into the top 20 after his great week in the Swedish capital.
In St. Petersburg, Russia, third seed Sebastien Grosjean of France beat Karol Kucera of Slovakia 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday to reach the final of the US$975,000 St. Petersburg Open.
It'll be the first ATP final for the 24-year-old Frenchman this season. His best results so far had been semifinal appearances at Monte Carlo and Madrid.
Kucera, who eliminated top-seeded Agassi in the second round here, came back from a break down twice in the opening set before Grosjean made a decisive break in game 6.
The second set was a lopsided affair with the Frenchman jumping to a 4-1 lead and comfortably winning.
On Sunday, Grosjean will meet Mikhail Youzhny of Russia who defeated Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
In Basel, Switzerland, seventh seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile defeated second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in rubber sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the semifinals of the US$1 million Swiss Indoors ATP tennis tournament here.
Meanwhile in Luxembourg, top seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium advanced to the final match of the US$225,000 WTA Seat Open after easily defeating Virginie Razzano of France in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 on Saturday.
In Linz, Austria, unseeded American Alexandra Stevenson marched to the final match of the US$585,000 Generali Ladies WTA tennis tournament here after defeating the tournament's fifth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-4, 7-6 (6) on Saturday.