Rome Semifinals Nearly Set
Two of the tour’s youngest players moved into the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Friday. Canadian Milos Raonic and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, both 23-years old, advanced to the final four of the event and could potentially meet in the final.
Raonic beat Jeremy Chardy, who knocked off Roger Federer earlier in the tournament, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to move into the semifinal matchup. After winning the first set, Raonic had his serve broken in the second set which allowed Chardy to crawl back into the match and force a third-set tiebreaker.
The Canadian responded by breaking his opponent twice in the final set as he cruised to the 6-2 set victory to secure the match. He smashed 14 aces and won 87 percent of his first service points to overpower the Frenchman as he attempts to win the first clay-court title of his career this weekend.
“I’m happy with a lot of things I did, especially getting myself back on track and playing a good third set,” said Raonic. “That was very important for me, being able to finish the way I did.”
Raonic will have a tough test awaiting him in the semifinals, as he will take on the winner of Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer.
Grigor Dimitrov celebrated his 23rd birthday today by moving into the semifinals, as the Bulgarian advanced after German Tommy Haas was forced to retire. A right shoulder injury was too painful for Haas to deal with and he had to withdraw after dropping the first set 6-2.
“It was one of the most memorable days of my life,” said Dimitrov. “I was just talking to my team. It’s my first win on my birthday, so it feels good. It’s a bit unfortunate the way it ended up, but I’m just a happy birthday boy today.”
Dimitrov will be walking into a semifinal bout with either Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray, who battle it out later today in Rome.
Over on the women’s draw, Ana Ivanovic parlayed her upset win over Maria Sharapova yesterday into a quarterfinal victory over Carla Suarez-Navarro 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Ivanovic was able to barely outduel her Spanish opponent in a very close-played match.
The Serbian trailed 4-2 in the first set before reeling off four straight games to win it 6-4. Suarez-Navarro quickly took back control by winning the first three games of the second set and cruise to a 6-3 victory to force the tiebreaker.
The Spaniard then led 4-3 in the third and was two games away from the match victory, but Ivanovic capitalized on her serve opportunity and won the next three games to win the set and the match.
She now moves on to face the winner of Serena Williams and China’s Shuai Zhang who will play later today. China’s other women’s star, Li Na, was in action early Friday against Italian Sara Errani for a spot in the semifinals.
Entering the match, Errani had lost all six of the previous matches between the two, but tried to put the past behind her as she took on the second ranked player in the world.
Using a powerful serve, Errani erased a 3-2 first set deficit to win four straight games and capture the opening set. Li bounced back nicely, taking the second set 6-4 and forcing the final set.
The two exchanged games and brought the third set to a 2-2 tie, which is where Errani pulled away. She once again won four straight games, this time clinching the match and her spot in the semifinals.
The 27-year old Italian converted eight of 13 break points and played mistake-free tennis, allowing her to reach the semifinals in Rome for the second straight season. She now awaits the winner of Jelena Jankovic and Agnieszka Radwanska.
Despite the loss, Li Na is looking forward to the French Open in a week and a half, and feels she is ready to make a deep run at Roland Garros.
“My French Open preparation was still better than last year,” said Li. “I have nine or 10 days until Paris, so I’ll take a couple days off to recover and see how my body is feeling and then prepare for Paris.”
