TOKYO, 5 October 2003 — Sebastien Grosjean beat Thai star Paradorn Srichaphan yesterday to book a place in the Japan Open final against Rainer Schuettler.
The French second seed came back from a set down to score a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Australian Open finalist Schuettler, the German top seed, coasted to a straightforward 6-3, 6-2 victory over France’s Cyril Saulnier in the other semifinal.
Paradorn got off to a solid start, breaking Grosjean to go 2-0 up and winning the set with his third ace of the match without facing a single break point.
But the tide turned in the third game of the second set, when Grosjean, ranked 10th in the world to Paradorn’s 11th, fended off three break points.
The Frenchman broke his opponent in the following game, which was enough for him to eventually level the match.
Paradorn failed to cash in on two more break points in the seventh game and was not given another chance to break the Frenchman.
Schuettler was never in danger against Saulnier, ranked 102, who had eliminated fourth seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic and fifth seed Mark Philippoussis of Australia.
In the women’s field, Russia’s new heart-throb Maria Sharapova made her first WTA final when she breezed past Zheng Jie of China 6-3, 7-5.
The 16-year-old from Nyagan, Siberian Region, will now take on Aniko Kapros of Hungary, the winner over Arantxa Parra of Spain 6-1, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Sharapova captured her first WTA title yesterday when she won the doubles event on the eve of her first attempt at a Tour singles final.
The 16-year-old from Nyagan in Siberia teamed up with Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn to beat the American pair of Ansley Cargill and Ashley Harkleroad 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 in her first doubles final.
“Both of us are very happy to have won our first title together. It is the first time we have played together, so this is a great result,” said Sharapova.
“Tokyo is a special place for me and I’m excited to have won the doubles title. I hope that I can come back and win the singles tomorrow.”
Mauresmo Reaches Final as
Dementieva Streak Ends
In Moscow, Elena Dementieva’s 10-match winning streak ended yesterday when the third-seeded Russian lost to second seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-1 in the Kremlin Cup semifinals.
In today’s final, Frenchwoman Mauresmo takes on fourth-seeded Russian Anastasia Myskina, who overwhelmed unseeded Israeli Anna Pistolesi 6-2, 6-0.
On the men’s side, Armenia’s Sargis Sargsian reached his first final in six years after overpowering American Vincent Spadea 6-2, 6-2 in 63 minutes.
Dementieva, who won successive WTA titles in Shanghai and Bali last month, started brightly, opening up a 4-2 lead, but Mauresmo ran off the next four games to take the first set.
She then strolled through the second set in just 25 minutes as Dementieva’s game fell apart.
“I started really well, was very aggressive,” said Dementieva. “But at 4-2, I played two sloppy games, just gave the initiative away. I think I was rushing my shots a little bit, trying to finish off points right away.”
“But in the second set honestly I just don’t think I had the emotional strength to fight for victory.”
World number seven Mauresmo, however, did not think it was an easy victory.
“Easy win? No way. It may looked easy, but I think it was a pretty intense first set,” said the Frenchwoman, who reached her first Kremlin Cup final on her fourth consecutive appearance in Moscow.
Mauresmo lost in last year’s semifinals here to eventual champion Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria.
Yesterday’s match was especially intriguing looking ahead to next month’s Fed Cup semifinal between Russia and France on the same center court of Moscow’s Olympiisky Sports Complex.
Myskina, who last week triumphed at the Leipzig Grand Prix where she beat French and US Open champion Justine Henin- Hardenne in the final, dominated Pistolesi from the baseline to extend her winning streak to seven matches.
Sargsian, appearing in his first semifinal since the Tashkent Open in September 2001, had little trouble against unseeded Spadea.
“Everything went very well today and I don’t really know why,” said the 53rd-ranked Armenian, who eliminated former five-times Kremlin Cup champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov and second-seeded Argentine Agustin Calleri in two previous rounds.
“It’s been a really good week for me so far.”
