Tennis: Nalbandian, Pennetta reach Acapulco semifinals
Associated Press
ACAPULCO, Mexico — Top seeds David Nalbandian and Flavia Pennetta advanced to the semifinals of the Mexican Open clay-court tournament today.
Nalbandian, coming off a victory Sunday in Buenos Aires, beat eighth-seeded Potito Starace 6-3, 6-3, breaking the Italian three times and saving three break points.
Nalbandian will face Peru's Luis Horna, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Argentina's Agustin Calleri. Argentina's Jose Acasuso also advanced, beating Spain's Marcel Granollers-Pujol 7-6 (2), 6-3.
On the women's side, Pennetta notched her 300th win on the WTA Tour, beating eighth-seeded Edina Gallovits of Romania 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Pennetta has reached the Acapulco final every year since 2004, and won in 2005. In the semifinals, she'll play No. 7 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia. Pennetta beat Kanep two weeks ago in the Vina del Mar quarterfinals en route to her fifth WTA title.
Kanepi edged Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (6) despite 10 double faults.
Jill Craybas of the United States reached her second semifinal of the year, beating Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1.
