HOUSTON, Texas, 18 April 2004 — Top seed Andy Roddick fought off a stiff challenge from Austrian Jurgen Melzer on Friday night to reach the semifinals of the US Men’s Clay Court Championships.
Seeking a fourth straight appearance in the final here, Roddick advanced with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) victory to improve his match record in this tournament to 17-1.
The 21-year-old American won back-to-back titles in 2001-02 and was runner-up to Andre Agassi a year ago. He has won an ATP Tour-best 31 matches this season.
Roddick has won 11 straight matches, dating to his victory at the Tennis Masters Series event in Miami, where he captured his third ATP Masters Series title.
Roddick was down a break midway through the opening set but broke back and then again to take the first set. The two held serve throughout the second with Roddick threatening to break at both 4-3 and 6-5 before winning in a tiebreak.
“I thought I was really persistent tonight, that is how I would describe it,” Roddick said. “I’ve definitely hit the ball better this week, but it was there when I needed it to be.”
Germany’s Tommy Haas locked up another semifinal berth, continuing his comeback with a 6-2, 6-0 drubbing of Russian Dmitry Tursunov. After missing all of last season with a shoulder injury, Haas reached his first semifinal since August 2002 at Long Island.
“Every win is huge for me right now, giving me some confidence and working the legs out there,” Haas said.
Fifth seed Andrei Pavel of Romania ousted fourth-seeded American James Blake 6-4, 6-4 to line up a semifinal clash with Haas.
Pavel earned a clutch break at three-all in the first set after a long game with several deuce points to take the first set. He was up 5-2 in the second when Blake broke him and held to get back to 5-4. But Pavel held off the American with an ace on match point. Seventh-seeded Luis Horna of Peru earned a shot at Roddick with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over US veteran Todd Martin.
Venus Advances as Davenport Bows Out in Charleston
Two days after her younger sister pulled out with a left knee injury, Venus Williams advanced to the semifinals Friday at the $1 million Family Circle Cup.
Williams dispatched ninth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-4.
A two-time Wimbledon and US Open champion, Williams battled a pulled stomach muscle last season and has not won a title in 14 months.
Williams’ younger sister, Serena, was forced to withdraw Wednesday, but Venus advanced to the final four of a WTA Tour event for the first time this year. She has not had an easy time in her first three matches this week, spending more than four and a half hours on court.
Fifth seed Lindsay Davenport, who won last week’s clay court event at Amelia Island, fell to Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2.
Schnyder, a finalist here in 2002, reached the semifinals of a Tier I event for the fifth time in her career, with three of those appearances coming at this tournament.
Davenport remains without a finals appearance at this event. She was done in by five aces and 17 winners by Schnyder and lost for just the third time in 25 matches this season.
Also advancing to the semifinals was 16th-seeded Spaniard Conchita Martinez, who surprised No. 8 Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-3, 6-2.
Martinez, who recorded her 700th career victory on Monday, made her 32nd birthday a special one by setting up a match-up with Schnyder — against whom she has won six of eight confrontations.
The 31-year-old Martinez won this event in 1994 and 1995.
Jelena Kostanic of Croatia also advanced, posting a 7-6 (7 4), 6-2 triumph over Hungary’s Petra Mandula. Ranked 62nd in the world, Kostanic will make her first semifinal appearance at a Tier I event.
Mandula was coming off an upset of seventh seed Jennifer Capriati on Thursday.
Ferrero Sets Up All-Spanish Semis at Valencia
Top-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Croatia’s Mario Ancic 6-4, 6-4 at the Valencia Open yesterday to help set up the first all-Spanish semifinals at an ATP event since 1997. The semifinals was also to be played later because most of Friday’s quarterfinals were suspended by rain.
Ferrero will face Fernando Verdasco, who beat seventh-seeded David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3.
Sixth-seeded Alberto Martin beat last year’s Valencia runner-up, Christophe Rochus of Belgium, 6-1, 6-2, and will play Albert Montanes. The last ATP event with four Spaniard semifinalists was at Umag, Croatia in 1997.
