CINCINNATI, Ohio, 18 August 2003 — Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish will play the big final match they dreamed about as boyhood friends yesterday at the Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati.
Seventh-seeded Roddick moved one step away from capturing his fifth title of the year with a 7-6 (7 5), 6-4 semifinal win over Max Mirnyi of Belarus.
Then 41st-ranked Fish, playing the best tennis of his career but still without a title on the ATP tour, earned his spot against Roddick with a hard fought 7-6 (7 4), 7-6 (8 6) victory over eighth-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany.
“It’s something we always dreamed about, playing in a final, back when we were 17 and living together,” said the 21-year-old Fish, who resided in the Roddick’s Boca Raton household for his junior year in high school.
“We go way back,” said the 20-year-old Roddick of his childhood buddy. “I mean, he lived at my house through our junior year of high school.
I mean, literally, five feet away from my door was where he stayed. So we were more like brothers that year where we’d fight sometimes — we definitely know each other pretty well.”
The two have played on two previous occasions — Fish won their battle in Delray Beach this past March when Roddick retired in the first round match with an ankle injury. Roddick won their quarterfinal meeting two weeks ago in Washington DC in straight sets.
This final will be played by the youngest finalists here since 21-year-old Stefan Edberg beat 19-year-old Boris Becker in 1987.
Fish seems to finally be finding some confidence to go along with his big serving game and the result is a final berth here, having beaten three top-20 players this week — 20th-ranked Mark Philippoussis in the first round, 14th-ranked David Nalbandian in the quarterfinals and the eighth-ranked Schuettler.
Since losing his serve in the first set of his first round match against Philippoussis, Fish has won 57 consecutive service games heading into the final.
“I wouldn’t be here without my serve,” Fish said, adding of his winning streak on serve: “That’s a record for me.”
Fish saved all six break points he faced on his serve — one at 4-5, 30-40 in the tenth game of the first set with a service winner.
He saved a second set point that Schuettler had when serving at 5-6 in the second set tiebreaker with a winning inside out forehand.
Although Schuettler never had his service broken in the match either — saving both break points he faced — he was outplayed by the American in both tiebreakers.
Every day that the fourth-ranked Roddick plays this summer adds up to his improving his extraordinary record for the season, making him the odds on favorite for the upcoming US Open.
But Roddick is not thinking that far ahead at the moment. “Cincinnati is on my mind,” Roddick told the pro-Roddick crowd after the semifinals. “New York will have to wait a couple of days.”
Since early June when he hooked up with new coach Brad Gilbert, Roddick has won the Queen’s Club title, the Indianapolis trophy and his first Tennis Masters Series level event at Montreal last week for a 29-2 win-loss record. In May, Roddick won his first trophy of the season at the clay court event at St. Poelten.
In his one hour, 21 minute semifinal, Roddick played an almost unblemished match — posting 39 outright winners and only one unforced error, with a 73 percent first service success rate.
In the first set Roddick posted 21 winners and no unforced errors, while Mirnyi matched his winner count but did have four unforced errors.
“I thought I played all right,” said Mirnyi, a quarterfinalist the past two weeks at Washington and Montreal.
“I think the score speaks for itself. He’s certainly playing well right now that’s why he is where he is right now.”
Henin-Hardenne Ousts Dementieva at Toronto
Meanwhile, Justine Henin-Hardenne was extended for the first time at the $1.3 million WTA Tour tier one tournament in Toronto Saturday, but pulled away to earn a berth in the final.
Henin-Hardenne survived her first three-set match of the tournament by defeating Russian Elena Dementieva, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 to advance to Sunday’s final.
Henin-Hardenne, the No. 2 seed, will face her fourth straight Russian today in surprising Lina Krasnoroutskaya, who posted a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Paola Suarez of Argentina in the first semifinal.
The match featured the sixth meeting and third this year in the developing rivalry between French Open champion Henin-Hardenne and Dementieva.
The pair split their previous two matchups, both of which went three sets.
Henin-Hardenne bounced back from dropping the second-set tiebreaker to advance to her seventh WTA Tour final of the year. She is 5-1 in those finals, including her triumph at Roland Garros for her first Grand Slam title.
Dementieva, who was seeking her second career title, has reached the semifinals three times this year. She posted wins over higher-seeded players in her previous two matches, knocking off Anastasia Myskina and defending champion Amelie Mauresmo.
Krasnoroutskaya, the No. 38 player in the world, continued her improbable run by advancing to a final for the first time. The 19-year-old upset world No. 1 Kim Clijsters in the third round.
One of 10 Russians in the original draw, Krasnoroutskaya broke Suarez in the final game of the match to secure her third straight three-set victory and fourth of the tournament.
The 27-year-old Suarez was facing a Russian for the third time in the tournament. She defeated three seeded players as well as former French Open champion Mary Pierce before being denied a chance at her fourth career WTA Tour title.
In doubles, Martina Navratilova and Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced to the finals with a 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3 victory over Nadia Petrova and Pierce.
