Tennis
Posted: 03 Nov 2006, 21:42
PARIS (Ticker) - Tommy Robredo accomplished his most important goal of the week Thursday. Now the Spaniard is two steps away from another.
The sixth seed, Robredo advanced to the semifinals at the BNP Paribas Masters on Friday with a 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victory over No. 14 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.
On Thursday, Robredo became the seventh player to book a spot in the eight-man year-end Tennis Masters Cup with a win over Paul-Henri Mathieu coupled with James Blake's loss to Tommy Haas.
After Robredo's victory Friday, he needs just two more wins to notch his second Masters Series title of the season. He also claimed the crown at the claycourt event in Hamburg prior to the French Open.
Robredo will face either fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko or ninth-seeded Croatian Mario Ancic in Saturday's semifinals.
By beating Davydneko, Ancic would leapfrog Blake and claim the final spot in Shanghai.
In the bottom half of the draw, eighth seed and defending champion Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic will face No. 17 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia and Haas - the 10th seed from Germany - will take on Russian Marat Safin.
The sixth seed, Robredo advanced to the semifinals at the BNP Paribas Masters on Friday with a 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victory over No. 14 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.
On Thursday, Robredo became the seventh player to book a spot in the eight-man year-end Tennis Masters Cup with a win over Paul-Henri Mathieu coupled with James Blake's loss to Tommy Haas.
After Robredo's victory Friday, he needs just two more wins to notch his second Masters Series title of the season. He also claimed the crown at the claycourt event in Hamburg prior to the French Open.
Robredo will face either fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko or ninth-seeded Croatian Mario Ancic in Saturday's semifinals.
By beating Davydneko, Ancic would leapfrog Blake and claim the final spot in Shanghai.
In the bottom half of the draw, eighth seed and defending champion Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic will face No. 17 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia and Haas - the 10th seed from Germany - will take on Russian Marat Safin.