WASHINGTON, March 16 (Xinhuanet) -- World number one
Roger Federer beat Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 6-3 Thursday to enter the Indian
Wells Masters semifinals in California.
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| Roger Federer of Switzerland serves to Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia during the Pacific Life Open, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells. (AFP) | The two-time defending champion from Switzerland won over the sixth-seeded Croatian only in 66 minutes and booked
his place in the final four.
In the semifinals Federer will face either Thailand's
Paradorn Srichaphan or Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, who were due to face off in
the night session.
Women's fourth seed Elena Dementieva of Russia
rallied for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over eighth seed Ana Ivanovic to book a
semifinal spot.
Dementieva, 24 and ranked eighth in the world,
reached two Grand Slam finals in 2004 but made it past the fourth round in only
one major last year and has struggled to find consistency this year.
She crashed out of the first round of the Australian Open, but won the biggest of her five career titles at the Pan Pacific tournament in Tokyo.
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| Andy Roddick leaves the court after losing to Igor Andreev of Russia at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells. (Reuters) |
Roddick out
Home sweet Andy Roddick fought his way back into the match and just as abruptly thought his way back out of it Thursday (Beijing Time) at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells.
Prolonging Roddick's 2006 frustrations, Igor Andreev beat him 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1.
Roddick, a former No. 1 whose 11-5 match record this year includes four losses to players ranked outside the top 50, showed his frustration after double-faulting to fall behind 5-1 in the third set, slamming his racket on the court and smashing it.
The 23-year-old finished the match with 45 unforced errors — 29 with his forehand — and only 13 winners, to 35 unforced errors and 34 winners by Andreev, a 22-year-old from Moscow ranked No. 26. The American also served four aces and had five double-faults, to Andreev's seven aces and two double-faults.
(Source: Xinhua/Agencies)
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