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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, September 26, 2009

Top-seed Monfils gains Open de Moselle semis


Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Gael Monfils

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METZ, France — Top-seeded Gael Monfils reached the Open de Moselle semifinals when Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia injured his right ankle and retired yesterday.

Monfils was leading their quarterfinal 6-1, 4-2 when Tipsarevic quit.

Next up will be fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who rallied to beat fourth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-3.

Petzschner served 16 aces but Gasquet managed to break him five times.

Third-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu was the third Frenchman to advance, reaching the semifinals for a second consecutive year with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over seventh-seeded Andreas Beck of Germany.

Mathieu is looking to reach his second final of the year after losing to Nikolay Davydenko in Hamburg. He will next play second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who beat Evgeny Korolev of Russia, 6-1, 6-3.

ELSEWHERE

BCR Open Romania: Third-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina defeated Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, yesterday to advance to the semifinals of the BCR Open Romania at Bucharest.

In the semifinals, Monaco will play Simon Greul of Germany, who beat Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina, 6-2, 6-2. Fifth-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain also advanced by overwhelming Fabio Fognini of Italy, 6-1, 6-1, in just 57 minutes. He will face Santiago Ventura, who defeated Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-2, 6-3, in an all-Spanish quarterfinal.

Japan Open: Roger Federer withdrew from the Japan Open and Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 yesterday, citing the need to rest after a physically challenging year.

The Japan Tennis Association said the top-ranked Federer was withdrawing from the Oct. 5-11 Japan Open in Tokyo, along with the Shanghai tournament the following week.

Korea Open: Defending champion Maria Kirilenko of Russia defeated Vera Dushevina of Russia, 7-5, 7-6 (5), yesterday and advanced to the Korea Open semifinals in Seoul, South Korea.

Kirilenko will play Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, who beat top-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4. Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany beat Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan, 6-0, 2-6, 7-5, and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain defeated Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, 6-3, 6-3.

Tashkent Open: Top-seeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-2, yesterday to advance to the semifinals of the Tashkent Open at Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

In the semifinals, Shvedova will face Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, who beat fifth-seeded Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland, 6-1, 6-4. Second-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel advanced, beating Russian qualifier Alexandra Panova, 6-4, 6-4, and will play fourth-seeded Olga Govortsova of Belarus, who defeated Darya Kustova, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.