AN ATP MASTERS SERIES EVENT
11th - 19th OCTOBER
ATP News : 2006
Federer Dismisses Dangerman Ancic to Reach Semifinals
Top seed Roger Federer defeated big-serving Croatian Mario Ancic 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his second consecutive semifinal at Roland Garros
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The ATP World No. 1 is now just two victories away from becoming the sixth man in history to capture all four Grand Slam titles. Federer next meets third seed David Nalbandian, a 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 winner over Russian Nikolay Davydenko. Nalbandian snapped Federer's 24-match winning streak in finals in last year's dramatic Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai final. The Swiss advanced to his eighth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, dating back to his Australian Open triumph in 2004, when he first assumed the No. 1 INDESIT ATP Ranking. Only Ivan Lendl, who reached 10 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals (1985 US Open-'88 Australian Open) has a longer streak of reaching the final four. In a telling statistic, Federer won 72 percent of points on his second serve (Ancic won just 36 percent) and the Croatian was able to convert just one of nine break point opportunities. Today's victory marked Federer's 26th consecutive Grand Slam match win, second on the Open Era list behind Laver with 29 in 1969-70. Federer is hoping to reaching his 14th consecutive final and 16th consecutive semifinal. Federer last failed to reach a final one year ago when he fell to Rafael Nadal in the Roland Garros semifinals. The seven-time Grand Slam champion has dropped just one set en route to the semifinals (against Nicolas Massu in the third round.) Nalbandian, the top-ranked Argentine, reached his second consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, following his loss to Marcos Baghdatis at the Australian Open. The World No. 3 also reached the Roland Garros semifinals in 2004 (l. Gaudio), the Wimbledon final in 2002 and the US Open semifinals in 2003 (l. Roddick after holding match point). Nalbandian’s win also marks the fourth consecutive year in which an Argentine has reached the semifinals at Roland Garros. Guillermo Coria lost in the 2003 semis to Michael Verkerk. In 2004, three Argentines reached the final four (Gaudio, Nalbandian and Coria) while last year Mariano Puerta defeated Nalbandian before falling to Rafael Nadal. |