VIENNA, 17 October 2004 — Guillermo Canas continued his surge back toward the world’s top 20 when he reached the final of the BA-CA Trophy with a straight sets win over the former champion Tommy Haas here yesterday.
The sixth-seeded Argentine beat the former world No. 2 from Germany 6-4, 6-3 to score his 22nd win in 24 matches, and a three ATP Topur titles since July.
In today’s final, he will face Spain’s Feliciano Lopez who put out Italy’s Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 6-3 in the other semifinal.
Canas also looks a good bet for a fourth title on one of his favourite courts, on which he has only lost once in eight matches.
That defeat was against Haas, in the 2001 final, and revenge looked to be within Canas’ grasp from the moment he broke serve in the third game yesterday.
He held that advantage throughout the first set and was only troubled when he slipped to love-30 while closing out the set.
Haas, who took risks with his groundstrokes and in coming to the net, may still have been suffering from discomfort in his back which caused him to have treatment on court during his three-set quarterfinal victory over Robbie Ginepri.
But there was no denying the increasing effectiveness of the hard-working Canas’ game, who often took an age between points but once again got better and better as a match went on, coming from 40-15 down to break Haas again for 4-3 in the second set.
It followed Canas’ first win over his compatriot, the top-seeded David Nalbandian in the quarterfinals and the performance did not pale by comparison.
He will certainly start favorite against Lopez, though the eight-seeded Spaniard showed what a dangerous player he can be in overwhelming Sanguinetti. The Italian had previously beaten the double Olympic champion Nicolas Massu, but was never given time to get his smooth sophisticated game by the angular left-handed serve-volley skills of Lopez.
The 23-year-old will be seeking his first ATP Tour title in only his second final; Canas by contrast will be seeking his seventh.
Myskina to Face Dementieva in French Open Rematch
In Moscow, Anastasia Myskina will take on Elena Dementieva in the Kremlin Cup final in a repeat of their all-Russian French Open final after the pair won their semifinals in similar fashion yesterday.
Fifth-seeded Dementieva finally overcame her nerves to prevail over unseeded fellow Russian Elena Bovina 6-4, 7-5, clinching victory on her eighth match-point.
Earlier, Myskina edged an off-color Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 7-6 in another tight battle between the defending champion and the new world number one to reach the Kremlin Cup final for a second year in a row.
Myskina fought off three break points in the ninth game before converting her first in the next game to take the opening set. Then, after both players were broken twice early in the second set, the Russian raced away with a tiebreaker 7-1 to secure her first ever win against Davenport.
“I wanted to keep the points short Sunday as I wasn’t feeling well,” said the second-seeded American, who regained the number one spot from injured Amelie Mauresmo by winning her opening match at the $2.3 million Moscow tournament. “I made too many errors at the wrong time as I had to go for the big shots because I knew I couldn’t stay very long on the court on Sunday,” she added. “I had a hard time with my chest and with my head. I wasn’t 100 percent ready for the game Sunday.”
Myskina said: “We both were feeling sick, fortunately for me I think Lindsay just getting this virus while I was already on my way to recovery.”
