VIENNA, 12 October 2003 — Wimbledon champion Roger Federer will meet Carlos Moya in the final of the CA Trophy after the Spanish second seed overcame Britain’s Tim Henman 7-6, 7-5 yesterday.
Top seed Federer sidestepped Max Mirnyi 6-2, 7-6 in the day’s first semifinal to leave himself just one match away from his sixth title of the year and his second in a row in Vienna.
Moya, who has been beaten by Federer in both their previous encounters including last year’s semifinal in Vienna, is looking to boost his chances of qualifying for next month’s prestigious Masters Cup in Houston.
Whatever the outcome, it will mark a premiere of sorts. If Federer wins, it will be the first time he has successfully defended a title. Victory for Moya would hand him his first indoor crown.
Against big-hitter Mirnyi, Federer unleashed a cocktail of stinging serves and irretrievable returns to pound his opponent into submission. The Swiss, who is the most prolific winner on the ATP Tour this year with 66 match wins, charged through the first set and surrendered just one point on his serve to Mirnyi.
Moya had a much tougher battle against Henman, champion here three years ago.
The Briton was the more aggressive in the first set, charging the net at every opportunity and punching volleys past the 1998 French Open champion.
Moya then found his blistering forehand and started firing winners past Henman, wrapping up the tie-break with the loss of just one point.
In the second set, former world number one Moya was a break down early on but held his nerve to ultimately get the better of the attacking Briton. Moya is competing for one of the two remaining tickets to the season-ending jamboree, standing in seventh place in the ATP Champions Race with the top eight qualifying.
Schuettler and Clement
to Meet in Lyon Final
Top seed Rainer Schuettler will face Arnaud Clement in the final of the Lyon Grand Prix after the Frenchman ousted Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 6-2, 6-3 yesterday.
The workaholic Schuettler of Germany battled past Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in yesterday’s first semifinal to reach his second final in successive weeks.
Champion in Tokyo last week, Schuettler outlasted his Russian opponent after Youzhny had come within two points of victory in the final set.
Clement also won an ATP tournament last week, in nearby Metz, and he maintained his momentum to easily dismiss Paradorn.
Recuperation could be the key in today’s final as Clement has played shorter and easier matches than Schuettler, who could also be tested after a long journey back to Europe from Tokyo.
Clement outpaced and overpowered the Thai, who had to be content with saving two match points before bowing.
It will be Schuettler’s third final in a month after Tokyo and the Brazilian Open a month ago. He also played in the Davis Cup for Germany.
Runner-up at the Australian Open in January, Schuettler achieved one of his dreams earlier this week in Lyon by becoming the fourth ever German to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup after Boris Becker, Michael Stich and Nicolas Kiefer.
Belgians to Clash for
Number One Spot
In Filderstadt, Germany, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne will battle not only for the Filderstadt Grand Prix title but also for the number one ranking after both earned semifinal victories yesterday.
Defending champion and world number one Clijsters overcame stiff first-set resistance before breezing past unseeded Mary Pierce of France 7-6, 6-0.
She will face second seed Henin-Hardenne after her fellow Belgian beat unseeded Russian Elena Bovina 6-2, 6-4.
Henin-Hardenne, who beat Clijsters in both the French and US Open finals, will take over from Clijsters as the world number one if she wins the final.
Clijsters will remain at number one if she retains her title.
“It’s just one more match,” said Henin-Hardenne of her chance to add the number one ranking to her two grand slam victories. “I’ll just try to stay focused on what I have to do. I’m happy with the way I played today, with my attitude, and I think I did everything well. So we’ll see what is going to happen.”
Tennis is about taking the chances you are offered and Pierce failed to do that against Clijsters yesterday.
She held the upper hand against Clijsters in the first set, leading 40-0 on the Belgian’s serve at 2-2 and then breaking to lead 5-4 when Clijsters put a double-handed backhand down the line just wide.
