DEN BOSCH, Netherlands (AP)?Marcos Baghdatis? 26th birthday started well Friday with a convincing straight-set quarterfinal victory over Denis Gremelmayr at the Unicef Open, but Ivan Dodig cut short his celebrations by beating the Cypriot 7-6 (4), 6-1 in the semifinals.
Baghdatis disposed of Gremelmayr 6-1, 6-0 in just 47 minutes in a match held over from a rain-soaked Thursday, but after Dodig edged a close first set the Cypriot ran out of steam and capitulated 6-1 in the second set to give Dodig a shot at his second ATP title.
?I was a little bit lucky maybe in the first set,? Dodig said. ?In the second set I was more relaxed and trying to be more aggressive.?
Fourth-seeded Dodig will face unseeded Dmitry Tursunov in the final after the Russian beat third-seeded Xavier Malisse 6-3, 7-6 (1) in the other semifinal. Both men had to finish their rain-interrupted quarterfinals earlier Friday.
In the women?s draw, Roberta Vinci of Italy beat Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-1 to set up a final against Jelena Dokic.
Dokic, who is seeking her seventh career title, had an easy path to the final when her Italian opponent Romina Oprandi injured her left wrist and had to pull out of their semifinal with Dokic leading 6-4, 2-0.
Right-handed Oprandi had the wrist bandaged after falling in the first set and continued playing but Dokic, who has not yet dropped a set on the Rosmalen grass courts, broke her serve twice to take the set and again in the second set before Oprandi retired.
Vinci was one of the few players whose quarterfinal was completed on Thursday, while Cibulkova had to wrap up a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 victory over second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova early Friday. Their match was suspended Thursday night with the Slovak leading 3-0 in the final set.
Victory in Saturday?s final would give Vinci her fifth WTA title.
Source: http://feeds.tennis.com/~r/tenniscom-news/~3/9Hjsq_9MCds/
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