Saturday 19 February 2011

Roddick beats Hewitt to reach semis

Tennessee: US top seed Andy Roddick, seeking his third Memphis crown and 30th ATP title, outlasted Australian Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 Friday to reach the semi-finals of an ATP and WTA indoor event.

By winning the clash of former world number ones, eighth-ranked Roddick booked a Saturday date with the winner of a later match between US qualifier Michael Russell and 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.

Hewitt, ranked 70th, broke Roddick to open the match and twice more to take the first set, but Roddick bounced back and rolled to his sixth victory in a row over Hewitt, seizing his first lead in their career rivalry at 7-6.

Hewitt, who turns 30 next week, was seeking his 29th career title, his first since last year in Halle. He has not beaten Roddick since the 2005 Indian Wells semi-finals.

Roddick is one victory from his fifth Memphis final. He won titles in 2002 and 2009 and was the runner-up in the event in 2003 and 2007.

Canadian wild card Milos Raonic, seeking his second title in two weeks, and compatriot Rebecca Marino, seeking her first WTA final, both advanced at the 1.32 million-dollar tournament.

Raonic, a 20-year-old whose ATP San Jose crown was the first by a Canadian in 16 years, kept his sizzling run going by firing 20 aces to beat US qualifier Robert Kendrick 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

He reached a Saturday semi-final against US fourth seed Mardy Fish, who downed defending champion Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-4.

US fifth seed Querrey double-faulted away a break in the fifth game of the second set and Fish held out from there to win in 79 minutes.

Marino, the sixth seed and the lone seed to reach the last eight, outlasted Russia's Evgeniya Rodina 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-1 in her first WTA semi-final.

She will play for the title on Saturday against Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who bounced Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

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