STOCKHOLM, 26 October 2003 — Fifth seed Mardy Fish will aim to net his first title from four finals this season after knocking three-time holder Thomas Enqvist out of the semifinals of the 650,000-euro Stockholm Open in straight sets here yesterday.
The American won through 6-4, 7-5 and next meets Swedish teenager Robin Soderling, who is determined to bring an initial men’s title of the season to his proud tennis nation after reaching his first career final 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5) over Italian Davide Sanguinetti.
Soderling, at 19, is one of the hopes for the future of the Swedish game. The teenager gave away a dozen years to Sanguinetti, a gray-streaked veteran whose play reminded Soderling of his father.
Sanguinetti was bidding for his second final of the season after losing eight months ago in the trophy match at San Jose to Andre Agassi. The Italian was pleased to have gone so far at the Kungligahallen after coming in hurt.
Nalbandian, Coria Set Up All-Argentine Final
In Basel, Switzerland, defending champion David Nalbandian beat top seed Andy Roddick 7-5, 7-5 in the Swiss Indoors semifinals yesterday to set up an all-Argentine final with Guillermo Coria.
Fourth-seeded Nalbandian extended his unbeaten run in Basel to nine games as he got the better of US Open holder Roddick for the first time, and stayed on track for his first title of the season.
Third-seeded Coria, 21, secured a place in his seventh final of the year by beating Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-4 in the earlier match.
Nalbandian had lost to Roddick in their three previous encounters, including a sensational semifinal at Flushing Meadows when the American came back from two sets down to win. The 21-year-old also lost to Roddick in Montreal in his only final appearance this season.
Sargsian to Meet Kuerten in St. Petersburg Final
Unseeded Armenian Sargis Sargsian will meet Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten in the St. Petersburg final after knocking out top seed Rainer Schuettler 6-3, 6-3 in yesterday’s semifinals.
Sargsian will contest his second final this month, having reached the last stage of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow before losing to American Taylor Dent.
Germany’s Schuettler, ranked No. 6 in the world, had not dropped a set in his three previous matches but he failed to produce his usually reliable game against a persistent Sargsian.
Earlier, Brazilian Kuerten beat Alex Corretja 6-4, 6-3 to end the Spaniard’s hopes of reaching his first final in more than a year. It was the first time the two had met on a surface other than clay, but the two clay-court specialists did not disappoint a small but vocal crowd at the Peterburzhsky sports complex with their base-line duel.
