Friday matches

2009 AEGON International | 19 June


Frank Dancevic (qualifier) vs Fabrice Santoro (no4 seed)
Dimitry Tursunov (no2 seed) vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (no8 seed)

Friday news

2009 AEGON International | 19 June

The two men's semi-finals were not as badly hit by the biting winds on Centre Court, as Canadian Frank Dancevic and Russian Dmitry Tursunov reached the final with few problems.

But with the crowd less than enthusiastic because of the bitterly cold winds and only odd spot of sunshine, the ambience for such a grand occasional as the semi-finals of a world-class event was sadly lacking.

But world no126 Dancevic surprised even himself by knocking out top seed Igor Andreev on Monday and has breezed through the draw to book his deserved place in the final against Tursunov. His latest victim was French veteran Fabrice Santoro, whose delightful and elegant play was the highlight of an otherwise tame semi-final that Dancevic won .6-4, 6-4 and served seven aces.

Road to the final


Read our report on how Frank Dancevic of Canada (qualifier) and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia (no2 seed) reached the final.
CLICK FOR DETAILS

"t's been a really fun experience getting to the finals," said Dancevic. "I've faced some great players but ust taken it match-by-match. I actually twisted my leg in qualifying and thought I wouldn't be able to play the next day.  It's been a really tough road to the finals."

Veteran Tursunov turned on the style to surprisingly outclass tall Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 6-2 in 70 minutes and is the overwhelming favourite to capture the inaugural AEGON International tournament to add to his five ATP Tour titles.
 
The world no27, seeded no2 after a number of higher profile players withdrew because of injury, smiled: “it was good to get this one done particularly as they weren’t the easiest conditions to play in. I’m pleased it was a quick match today as I’d had some longer matches at the start of the week."

And with virtually 100 world ranking places dividing the finalists, the serve and volley tactics by the canny Canadian does not mean that Tursunov will be able to dictate play like he did against baseliner Garcia-Lopez.

"This surface suits him because he likes to come into the net,” admitted Tursanov. "It will be a tough match and the difference in ranking doesn’t matter, his results this week speak for the quality of his game.”
 
Australian Rennae Stubbs, who on Friday with compatriot Sam Stosur reached the women’s doubles final against Akgul Amanmuradova and Ai Sugiyama, beamed: “It’s been great having the guys around!”