Black Tennis Pros

DOHA (AFP) — Andy Roddick reached his first final since September when he carved a fine win in a high quality match against Gael Monfils in the semi-finals of the Qatar Open.

The former world number one from the United States also showed signs of evolving into a more measured and varied player during his 7-6 (7/1), 3-6, 6-3 win over the brilliant but inconsistent Frenchman.

"He has an interesting dynamic because he just begs you to come forward, and then he will come up with a passing shot," he said.

"So it's a matter of staying the course and not getting discouraged by it. It was a physical match but I have done a lot of hard work in close season.

"I wasn't in shape at the end of last year after various injuries and stiff, but now I feel better."

Monfils, who eliminated world number one Rafael Nadal in straight sets on Thursday, looked to have more than enough spectacular weapons to sweep Roddick aside too, with his blistering court coverage, excellent serving and blazing winners.

But the 22-year-old missed his chance to close out the first set when he was serving at 5-4, and having re-established a dominance in many of the rallies was unable to find the right shot at crucial moments in the final set.

Roddick, by contrast, made the most of his assets in resourceful fashion. He kept his head when Monfils was threatening to trample on him in the first set, making the younger player play plenty of balls in the crises moments, and in the tie-break was by far the more solid.

Monfils, more relaxed again, was at his spectacular best in the second set, when again he looked easily good enough to become a top five player.

One outrageous forehand topspin lob winner, made while he was hurtling sideways behind the baseline, contributed to his break of serve in the fourth game, and he consolidated that by holding serve all through with an 80 percent first delivery ratio.

But Monfils' shot choices became less convincing in the third set, and he also became more passive.

Roddick broke for 3-1, lost it and slipped to 3-3 as Monfils once again looked a better player when trying to come from behind. But the former US Open champion broke again for 5-3 when Monfils played a disappointingly indifferent service game.

Monfils looked capable of breaking back at the death but at 30-all selected a dropshot-lob combination when he seemed well placed to try to pass Roddick. The ball landed long, and Roddick closed the match out nervelessly in the next rally with a well-controlled net attack.

BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — Seventh seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet upset countryman and doubles partner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International tennis tournament Friday.

After being blown off court in the opening set Gasquet staged a remarkable comeback to down the second seeded Tsonga in 98 minutes.

He will take on eighth seeded Czech Radek Stepanek, a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 winner over Sweden's Robin Soderling, in the semi-finals on Saturday with the winner to play either Fernando Verdasco or Paul-Henri Mathieu in Sunday's final.

Gasquet and Tsonga won the ATP doubles title in Sydney last year and will play together there next week.

But there was no love lost in the first set as Tsonga, the world No.6, blitzed the first set, breaking Gasquet in the second and fifth games to take the set in just 29 minutes.

Gasquet came out in the second a different player and was able to comfortably hold his serve, while at the same time Tsonga went slightly off his game.

Gasquet broke at 5-4 to even the match up then dominated the third as Tsonga began to wilt under the pressure.

He said once he began to get the upper hand his confidence began to grow.

"It was difficult because I lost the first set 6-1 and he was playing better than me," Gasquet said.

"But I told myself to keep fighting and try to serve better and I may have a chance to break him, and it happened and I won the second set.

"After that my game got better and better."

Gasquet said it was important for him to beat top 10 players.

"I am 20 in the world, I was seven, so I can beat a lot of these guys," he said.

"It's good for me to begin the season with a semi-final before a Grand Slam -- it's good for the confidence."

(HONG KONG) Venus Williams beat Anna Chakvetadze in straight sets Friday

Chakvetadze played well in the first set, responding to Williams' power-hitting with crafty counter-punching and big hitting of her own, but the Russian couldn't maintain her form in the second set.

"She's able to chase down a lot of balls," Williams said. "Against a player like that, it's just important to focus on what's happening on my side of the net and realize that I might have to hit two or three extra (balls). The reply might be a little shorter so I might have the chance to come in to be more aggressive."

Chakvetadze was up 4-2 in the first set, but Williams broke back in the eighth game. The Russian then missed two straight forehands in the tiebreaker to give Williams a 6-0 lead.

"It's tough to play her," Chakvetadze said. "She hits very hard."

Williams broke Chakvetadze twice to take a 5-1 lead in the second set, but the Russian saved two match points to hold serve in the seventh game and then broke Williams to stay in the match. However, Williams broke right back, sealing the win as Chakvetadze missed a forehand down the line.

Williams will play Zvonareva and Dulko faces Chakvetadze on Saturday, before a final doubles match.

DOHA, Qatar, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Frenchman Gael Monfils slammed seven aces and made three service breaks Thursday to knock world No. 1 and top-seed Rafael Nadal out of the Qatar Open .

Monfils, the tournament's fifth seed, disposed of the Spaniard in a little less than an hour and a half and moved on to the semifinals.

The Frenchman, who in three previous meetings had failed to win more than three games in a set against Nadal, produced some excellent tennis and broke the Nadal serve on three occasions in a match lasting 89 minutes.

It was Nadal's first defeat in a completed match prior to the semifinals since May 2008, when he fell to Juan-Carlos Ferrero in the second round at the ATP World Masters event in Rome.

The 22-year-old Monfils is bidding to reach his second final in Doha, having finished runner-up to Roger Federer in the title match in 2006.

HONG KONG (AFP) — Venus Williams crushed world number one Jelena Jankovic in straight sets Thursday, inspiring the Americas to victory over second seeds Europe at Hong Kong's World Team Challenge.

The Wimbledon champion pulled her team level after the Americas lost their opening doubles clash and in Thursday's late evening match Gisela Dulko beat Agnes Szavay 6-4, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3 to take her team through to the gold group final.

In the final, the Americas will face top seeds Russia, who won all three of their matches against Asia-Pacific.

Williams seized control early in her match with Jankovic and never let up, breaking twice in each set for a 6-2, 6-2 win.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion broke the Serbian in the first game of the match, racing into a 4-0 lead, unfurling a series of unanswerable ground strokes.

Williams, who trails Jankovic 4-5 in head-to-heads on the WTA tour, broke again in the third game of the second set and went on to seal the match with the help of another break.

"I had a good start. I think it put some pressure on her. I also wasn't giving her the errors I usually give to her, lots of errors," said Williams, who beat Jankovic in their last meeting at the season-ending WTA Tour Championships.

The world number six said she had a "great feeling" about the upcoming season and was going to use the knowledge she had gleaned from her last two tournaments in 2008, both of which she won.

Williams, looking to win her first Australian Open title, said she was not surprised to be off to such a strong start against a powerful opponent.

"I've always been a good player off the jump. That's always been the way I've played throughout my career," she said.

Jankovic said she had found her first singles match of the season tough.

"It was very hard to get into the match. I felt very slow on the court and didn't really get my rhythm out there," she said.

"But it's the first match of the season so I can't expect myself to play the best tennis, which is normal."

American Serena Williams is free of the hamstring issue that caused her to withdraw from the Hopman Cup and has begun training in preparation for the Australian Open Series Medibank Sydney International Tennis Tournament at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Center, Sydney, Australia, set to begin tomorrow.

BRISBANE, Australia: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recovered from a disastrous start to overcome Finland's Jarkko Nieminen and lead a posse of Frenchmen into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.

Tsonga failed to win a game in the first set but came back to win the last two sets in tie-breaks to ensure four Frenchmen made the final eight.

He closed out the match 0-6, 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/5) to join Richard Gasquet, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Florent Serra in the quarter-finals.



Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils will square off in the Doha quarterfinals on Thursday. The winner will meet either Andy Roddick or Victor Hanescu in the semis.

Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils will do battle for the fourth time in their careers on Thursday when they meet in the quarterfinals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Nadal holds a 3-0 edge in the head-to-head series, but only one of the victories came on hard courts. He won 6-3, 6-2 on the clay courts of Rome in 2005, 6-2, 6-2 on the Monte-Carlo dirt in 2006, and most recently 6-3, 6-2 at last season's Master Series Paris.

Monfils erased Jan Hernych in the first round but struggled with countryman Nicolas Devilder for two hours and seven minutes before outlasting him 7-5, 7-6(4).

HONG KONG (AP)—Venus Williams and Coco Vandeweghe of the United States lost in straight sets to Team Europe at an exhibition tournament on Wednesday.

Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal beat Team Americas 6-4, 7-5.

Williams will play Jankovic in singles on Thursday.

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