Baghdatis disposed of Gremelmayr 6-1, 6-0 in just 47
minutes in a match held over from a rain-soaked Thursday, but after Dodig edged
a close first set the Cypriot ran out of steam and capitulated 6-1 in the
second set to give Dodig a shot at his second ATP title.
"I was a little bit lucky maybe in the first
set," Dodig said. "In the second set I was more relaxed and trying to
be more aggressive." Fourth-seeded Dodig will face unseeded Dmitry
Tursunov in the final after the Russian beat third-seeded Xavier Malisse 6-3,
7-6 (1) in the other semifinal. Both men had to finish their rain-interrupted
quarterfinals earlier Friday.
In the women's draw, Roberta Vinci of Italy beat Dominika
Cibulkova 7-5, 6-1 to set up a final against Jelena Dokic.
Dokic, who is seeking her seventh career title, had an
easy path to the final when her Italian opponent Romina Oprandi injured her
left wrist and had to pull out of their semifinal with Dokic leading 6-4, 2-0.
Right-handed Oprandi had the wrist bandaged after falling
in the first set and continued playing but Dokic, who has not yet dropped a set
on the Rosmalen grass courts, broke her serve twice to take the set and again
in the second set before Oprandi retired.
Vinci was one of the few players whose quarterfinal was
completed on Thursday, while Cibulkova had to wrap up a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 victory
over second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova early Friday. Their match was suspended
Thursday night with the Slovak leading 3-0 in the final set.
Victory in Saturday's final would give Vinci her fifth
WTA title.
In Eastbourne, England: Rain washed out semifinal play at
Eastbourne on Friday, with all matches rescheduled for Saturday.
The tournament will attempt to complete all four semifinal
matches, with the finals to follow.
In the women's event, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic is
to play Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Sam Stosur of Australia will face
Marion Bartoli of France. The men's event will see Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia
meet Kei Nishikori of Japan and Igor Kunitsyn of Russia play Andreas Seppi of
Italy.
Despite a forecast of showers throughout the day, the
tournament is under pressure to complete the event on Saturday to allow players
to prepare for Wimbledon.
