MONTREAL, 10 August 2003 — German eighth seed Rainer Schuettler battled to a revenge win over Andre Agassi as he rallied from a set down to beat the world number one 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Montreal Masters on Friday.
In semifinals, Schuettler lines up against Argentina’s David Nalbandian who eased to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in a night match. The pair joined Roger Federer and Andy Roddick in the last four, who earlier recorded straight-set victories to set up an intriguing contest between two of the sport’s most popular young players. Federer breezed past doubles partner Max Mirnyi 6-2, 7-6 to set up a Wimbledon rematch against Roddick.
The third seeded Swiss played flawless tennis against his Belarussian opponent, who never came close to breaking the Wimbledon champion’s serve.
To mark his 22nd birthday, Federer received a racket-shaped cake from tournament organizers after notching his 57th win of the season, the most on the men’s circuit.
The Swiss is poised to become the new leader of the ATP Champions Race after second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero lost in the third round against Karol Kucera.
However, the world No. 41-ranked Slovakian’s run came to end against sixth seed Roddick 7-6, 6-3.
Roddick was expecting a tough match against the 29 year-old Kucera, but the 20 year-old American had little trouble advancing to his fifth consecutive semifinal.
Clijsters, Davenport Advance in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, top seed Kim Clijsters continued her march toward the world number one ranking when she trounced Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the of the JP Morgan Chase Open on Friday.
The Belgian’s most likely challenger for the title appears to be second seed Lindsay Davenport, who worked out the kinks in her game to sweep past eighth seed Amanda Coetzer 6-2, 6-4 in a night match.
Clijsters was to face 16th seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy in semifinals, after the Italian eased to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Australia’s Nicole Pratt.
In the other semi, Davenport lines up against fourth seed Ai Sugiyama, who advanced with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over sixth seed Magdalena Maleeva.
Should Clijsters win this event, the 20-year-old Belgian will take over the top spot from the injured Serena Williams.
“I just want to focus on my next match because I’m not there yet,” Clijsters said.
If she does manage to win her next two matches, Clijsters will become the first player to attain the number one ranking without winning a Grand Slam title since the WTA Tour introduced the ranking system in 1975.
