LOS ANGELES, 11 August 2003 — Top seed Kim Clijsters moved a step closer to becoming the world’s No. 1-ranked player when she battled past Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-4 in the semifinals of the JP Morgan Chase Open on Saturday.
The 20-year-old Belgian was to face second seed Lindsay Davenport in final after the American had earlier trounced Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-2, 6-1.
Should she beat Davenport, Clijsters will become the first player to attain the number one ranking without winning a grand slam title since the WTA Tour introduced the system in 1975.
“The chance of becoming number one should motivate me a little more tomorrow,” said Clijsters, who has won six titles this season and reached at least the semifinals of all 16 tournaments she has played in.
“I’ve had a great year so far and made it through to another final. It would be nice if I could win, but I’ll have to play my best tennis,” Clijsters said.
On a windy night, Clijsters struggled with her control against the 16th seed, who played an extremely aggressive and ambitious match.
Despite falling a break behind in both sets, Clijsters raised her game when it mattered, mixing top-spin lobs with groundstrokes to the corners.
Schiavone attempted to serve herself into a tiebreaker in the first set, but Clijsters broke to win the set when she forced a forehand error.
Trailing 2-4 in the second set, the Belgian held serve and then leveled the scores by breaking Schiavone with a delightful lob that the Italian couldn’t reach.
Clijsters served a love game then broke her opponent to win the match when the Italian netted a backhand after a long rally.
“I felt mentally strong at the end of both sets,” Clijsters said. “It’s a good feeling to take into the next match knowing that I can raise my level of play when I have to.”
Davenport crushed the fourth-seeded Sugiyama in just 53 minutes with a powerful service and return game in stiflingly hot conditions.
“She was returning really well today,” Sugiyama said.
“My second serve isn’t good enough against her and I didn’t get enough first serves in. “Even when I did, she returned well. Her serves were great, too. I couldn’t do much against her.”
Davenport was delighted with her performance.
“I hit good shots and did everything well all around,” she said. “I struggled a little with controlling the ball on the side with the wind but other than that, the balls were going in the vicinity where I was aiming them.”
Davenport and Clijsters are tied at 6-6 in head-to-head matches but the Belgian has won five out of their last six contests.
“She’s a very tough opponent to play,” Davenport added. “I’m going to have to get on top of the points early or she has the ability to put me on the run a lot.
“I’d really like a win over a player ranked higher than me.”
Roddick Edges Federer, Meets Nalbandian in Final
In Montreal, Andy Roddick advanced to the final of the Montreal Masters after a nail-biting win over Roger Federer 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 on Saturday, depriving the Wimbledon champion of the opportunity to oust Andre Agassi from the world number one ranking.
Roddick will face world No. 21 David Nalbandian in the final of the $2.45 million tournament, after the unseeded Argentine rallied from a set down to beat German eighth seed Rainer Schuettler 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The 20-year-old American, who had never beaten Federer before, was down a break and trailing 4-2 in the third, but rallied past Federer 7-3 in the tie-break when the 22-year-old double-faulted and made four unforced errors.
“It was nice, it was definitely not looking good for a while,” Roddick said.
Roddick felt the turning point came in the third set when he had to hit a half-volley from between his legs while rushing to the net. The ball landed in and the crowd erupted in awe.
“I guess it was just reaction. It was either that or get hit in the nuts (testicles),” said Roddick. “But you know, that definitely took the edge off, it was kind of fun.”
Fourth seeded Federer traded nine aces with Roddick during the match, but had 10 double faults, compared to only two for the sixth-seeded American.
“I made a few double faults, but it happened because I wanted to take some risks, I wanted to take control because I didn’t wish to get into rallies against him,” Federer said. Federer, who will move ahead of French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero to second in the world when the new rankings are released, could have also displaced Agassi if he had beaten Roddick.
“I’ve never been number one, but I’ve never been number two either, and I’m number two now, so let’s take the positive part of the story,” Federer said.
Roddick was seeking his fourth title this year yesterday after victories at St. Polten, Queen’s and Indianapolis.
He has a 23-2 record since he joined forces with coach Brad Gilbert, who turned 42 on Saturday.
“He’s been great. We’re very relaxed together all the time. It’s not too intense, which is a change of pace and it seems to be working so far,” Roddick said.
“I don’t feel like I’m playing hot, I feel like I’m pretty solid. I come out knowing what I’m going to get from myself on a daily basis, and I haven’t had that feeling before,” Roddick said. Roddick won the only match he played against Nalbandian, disposing of him 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of last year’s hardcourt tournament in Toronto.
Nalbandian’s win over Schuettler in their fourth meeting of the year ensured that this event would be his best performance of the season, surpassing a semifinal appearance at Hamburg in May.
With the victory Nalbandian moved 4-3 ahead of Schuettler in overall results between the two but it was his first triumph on a surface other than clay.
“The key to winning the match was my better serve and playing high on his backhand,” Nalbandian said after reaching his first Masters Series final.
Schuettler felt that a lack of consistency as the match wore on was the main reason for his defeat.
“He served pretty well and I didn’t return that well. My return is usually my strength and today I missed a lot,” Schuettler said.
“There were long rallies in the second and third set and I was making mistakes while he didn’t miss much. He was the better player today.”
Pistolesi Outlasts Kostanic to Win Helsinki Open
In Helsinki, Israel’s second seed Anna Pistolesi rallied from a set down to beat Croatia’s Jelena Kostanic and clinch the Helsinki Open title yesterday.
Qualifier Kostanic led 2-0 and 4-3 in the second set before she started missing her dropshots and making several unforced errors that allowed Pistolesi to take the initiative with a solid base-line game.
Pistolesi, who also won the Polish Open last week, picked up $22,000 for the 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win — her eighth WTA tour title.
“It wasn’t an easy game despite 6-0 in the third set,” the 27-year-old said. “Jelena’s dropshots were some of the best I have seen. “I just kept the level high and won some key points in the second set that changed the momentum.”
