Ljubicic Stuns Srichaphan; Ferrero Advances


Sixth seed Ivan Ljubicic qualifed for his third semifinal of the season by upsetting Thai hero Paradorn Srichaphan 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 at the inaugural Thailand Open in Bangkok Friday. Tomorrow the Croatian faces top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, a player he has defeated in both of their previous encounters. The Spaniard struggled against France's Gregory Carraz but fought his way back from a 3-5 deficit in the decisive set to claim the match 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2). This marks the Spaniard's eighth semifinal appearance this year, and he has lifted three trophies, including Roland Garros and Tennis Masters Monte-Carlo.

Earlier in the day, Jarkko Nieminen ended third seed Carlos Moya's Bangkok campaign when he defeated the Spaniard 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4. The No. 5 seeded Finn, advanced to his third semifinal of the season following a runner-up effort in Munich as well as an appearance among the last four in Milan.

In the semifinals, Nieminen takes on 22-year-old American Taylor Dent, who advanced when his opponent Nicolas Thomann retired with a right foot injury at 6-3.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Nieminen: "I lost a tight first set. It would have been a different story if I had taken the first set, but now I can forget that first set loss quickly and started to concentrate again. I started to fight, and I played really well the last two sets." 

"I have been practicing very well for this indoor season and I have a new coach (Fredrik Rosengren) since Montreal, and I have been playing really well with him. This year I have won pretty much all the matches against the players behind me in the rankings. I have been serving better all the time and at least here I have been serving really well, and my game is all the time getting more accuracy. Against good players like Moya you can't be too defensive because they can finish the points almost from everywhere so you have to win the points yourself."

About bowing to the crowd like Srichaphan: "I've noticed that Paradorn does it, and I see the people like it. The people have treated us well here at the tournament, so it's nice to give something back to them, to do something nice for them also."

Moya: "He played very well today, and I had a few chances which I didn't take. I felt that he was controlling the match more than I was doing."

About what children in Bangkok should do to become good tennis players: "Well I was one like one of them so that here and now they can do it also. It is not a big secret I was like them. I liked tennis a lot and maybe we have more facilities in Spain but still if they really want to play tennis they have to enjoy the game, they have to enjoy practising, keep studying is very important, but have fun. Have fun practising, have fun watching matches. The most important thing is to enjoy what they are doing. That is very important."

Dent: "I was up a set and I broke him three times in the first set and it was a good sign. I wasn't serving as well as I did yesterday, but I was playing good. He broke me on two or three winner returns, and then I served a couple of double faults. But I was happy with the way it was going. If I had kept playing the way I was, then I may have walked away with a win."

"This the first time it has happened to me where somebody has retired during the match. Unfortunately I have retired to a lot of guys because I have gotten some injuries this last year. And you know it is lucky any time some guy retires to you, and I'm sorry that it happened to him, because like I said I have been in the same position. But it moves me forward in the tournament, and I'm getting ready for the next round."

About the noisy crowd: "I actually like it when the crowd is loud and rowdy. It makes it more fun for me playing out on the court. One of the most memorable matches for me I ever played was in India, Chennai, and the crowd was absolutely going crazy. They were shouting out names, they were calling me names, they were calling my opponent names. And you know it's just a fun atmosphere to play in when the crowd's into the match, so I enjoy it. The more noise the better."

Ferrero: "It was a very difficult match because he was playing 100% all the time, and I didn't have any time to be relaxed in the match you know I had to play and conentrate 100% all the time on my tennis. I'm in great form and playing good and I'm serving but this kind of players it's very difficult to play against because they serve very well, and they play serve and volley all the time. I think Carraz played very, very well today. I think I had to play at the same level as him all the time to win the match."


SEMIFINAL MATCHES

In the first of the Thailand Open semifinals, fifth seed Jarkko Nieminen meets No. 8 seed Taylor Dent for a spot in the Bangkok final. The 22-year-old Finn, who advanced to the final in Munich as well as the semifinals in Milan earlier this season, has a 39-23 record and is looking for his first career title. 22-year-old Dent, who advanced to the fourth round of the US Open, has a 20-11 record for the year and won his second career ATP title in Memphis in February, defeating Andy Roddick in the final.

Top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero meets Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, who is seeded No. 6 this week. The 24-year-old Croatian is looking to reach his first ATP final since capturing the Lyon title in 2001. The 23-year-old Spaniard, who has lost to Ljubicic in their two previous matches, has a 60-14 record in 2003 and has won three titles in five final appearances this season. He is one of four players, the others being Andy Roddick, Roger Federer and Andre Agassi, who are battling for the coveted year-end No. 1 title.