TOKYO, 7 October 2007 — Wimbledon champion Venus Williams suffered a shock 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 defeat by France’s Virginie Razzano in the Japan Open final yesterday, while top seed David Ferrer and Frenchman Richard Gasquet advanced to the men’s final.
Williams, the women’s top seed and winner of last week’s Korea Open, blew three match points in the second set tiebreak before Razzano leveled the Tokyo final at one set apiece.
Williams, who was chasing a 37th career title, called an injury timeout for treatment to her right thigh after the first game of the decider but it made no difference.
Razzano’s tenacity earned her the decisive break at 5-4 in the third, and the fifth seed sealed a stunning upset by forcing Williams into another wild forehand after two hours, 48 minutes.
Both Ferrer and Gasquet came through their semifinals with carbon copy 7-6 6-3 victories.
Ferrer, who reached his first grand slam semifinal at this year’s US Open, defused Croatian Ivo Karlovic’s fierce serve in an absorbing contest. Third seed Gasquet earned the right to face Ferrer in today’s final of the $832,000 men’s tournament after beating No. 2 seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
Henin to Face Golovin
in Stuttgart Final
World No. 1 Justine Henin faces France’s Tatiana Golovin in the final of Stuttgart’s WTA tournament after the Belgian favorite overcame third seed Jelena Jankovic in a marathon semifinal.
This was the sixth consecutive meeting this season — and the fourth WTA semifinal — where the Belgian has beaten Jankovic and Henin will face last year’s finalist Golovin today with a brand-new Porsche at stake.
Golovin, 19, needed just over an hour to dump second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova out of the tournament after the Russian made several mistakes. Russian-born French starlet Golovin powered her way to a 6-2 win after just the first set took just 26 minutes and was rarely troubled as she won the second 6-4 in less than 50 minutes to set up a showdown with Henin. In contrast to Golovin’s smooth semifinal, Henin had a tough ride to the final after a hard battle between two of the best power-hitters in the game and both players took risks in an attempt to steal an advantage. Jankovic matched Henin shot-for-shot in the first set until the world No. 1 pulled ahead in the tie-break and held on for a 7-6 (7-2) win after 58 minutes of high-class tennis at Stuttgart’s Porsche Arena.
McEnroe Downs Borg in ATP Seniors Event
At Eindhoven, the Netherlands, John McEnroe downed Bjorn Borg 7-6, 7-6 (4) at Eindhoven’s Tennis Classics on Friday, the eighth event on the ATP’s Tour of Champions. Bjorn Borg recovered from a stomach virus in time to meet the American in front of a capacity crowd of 4,800.
Before Roger Federer’s 6-4, 6-0 win over Andy Roddick in the Thailand Open final in 2004, McEnroe and Borg were the only players to win 12 straight ATP Tour finals in the last 25 years.
Earlier Friday, Richard Krajicek defeated Carl Uwe Steeb 6-3, 6-4 while Sergi Bruguera beat Thomas Muster 6-3, 6-2. Also, Paul Haarhuis beat Henri Leconte 1-6, 6-1, 10-3.
