Haas marches on but Fish forced to withdraw

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:39

Tommy Haas brought Marat Safin’s run at the LA Tennis Classic to an end in the quarter-finals with a 7-6(3) 6-2 win on Friday.

The tournament’s top seed now faces Sam Querrey, after the No.6 seed beat Dudi Sela 6-3 7-5.

It looked like it might be Safin’s day when, after denying Haas on five break point chances early in the first set he broke the German to love in game seven for a 4-3 lead.

But the German broke back a game later, only to be broken once more in game eleven to leave the Russian serving for the set.

Yet once more the Russian squandered his advantage, surrendering the break after seeing three set points pass him by. He failed to recover in time to stop the German running away with the tie-break.

Haas broke Safin for a 3-2 lead in the second set and again in game seven before holding in the last game to seal the victory.

In the other quarter-finals, No.2 seed Mardy Fish was forced to retire from the US Open tune-up after suffering an abdominal strain in his second-round victory over Chris Guccione, handing Leonardo Mayer a walkover.

The Argentine is through to an incredibly unlikely semi-final match-up with Australian qualifier Carsten Ball, who shocked 6’9” John Isner 6-4 6-4.

Fish struggled to outlast Australian Chris Guccione as he rescued three match points before rallying for a three-set victory. But the effort clearly took its toll.

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