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Ljubicic, Robredo through to semis
Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic upset third seed Tim Henman of Great Britain 7-5 6-4 in a match disrupted by rain to reach the semi-finals of the Dubai Open.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:50 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Dubai:
Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic upset third seed Tim Henman of Great Britain 7-5 6-4 in a match disrupted by rain to reach the semi-finals of the Dubai Open on Friday. Meanwhile, Spanish fifth seed Tommy Robredo defeated Germany's Nicolas Kiefer 6-4 6-4 in the only other match to be completed, and will meet Ljubicic in the last four. The quarter-finals involving world number one Roger Federer and fourth seed Andre Agassi were postponed until Saturday, with the semi-finals being played later in the evening. Good return Robredo took on Kiefer in the opening quarter-final under uncharacteristically grey skies. The Spaniard, playing his first tournament in a month after an injury lay-off, broke his German opponent in the fifth game of the first set. Kiefer, who stunned Australian Open champion Marat Safin in the first round, had two break points in the next game but couldn't take advantage, and Robredo duly took the set by six games to four. The German broke to take an early lead in the second set, but again failed to make the most of his opportunity, allowing Robredo to break back in the next game. Robredo then broke an erratic Kiefer in the ninth game and served out for the match, finishing in style with a superb backhand across the court. The final score was 6-4 6-4. Long-drawn game Later, third seed Tim Henman crashed out of the championship after losing his quarter-final against Croatia's Ljubicic. On four occasions, the British number one was left kicking his heels as the sunshine paradise of Dubai for once closely resembled a wet day at Wimbledon. Henman and eighth-seeded Ljubicic had to take to the court seven times before completing their match in six hours 45 minutes. At times they did not even get as far as re-starting play before having to come off court again. Henman did sufficiently well to fight off three break points as Ljubicic led 4-3 in the opening set but wasted his good work after play re-started at 5-5, double-faulting and then hitting a tame forehand into the net to concede the first set. The Briton broke to lead 1-0 in the second set, but Ljubicic forced a backhand error to level at 3-3 before breaking again for the match with a winning return. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Ivan Ljubicic
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