Archives - Friday, August 11, 2006

2 Americans and Poussis into semis
Jamie Murray in the doubles final

Quarterfinal singles

Mark Philippoussis(1)(AUS) def Tomas Cakl(5)(CZE) 4-6,6-4,6-2

Sam Warburg(USA) def Santiago Giraldo(COL) 6-4,6-3

Scott Oudsema(USA) def Nathan Healey(AUS) 6-7(8),7-6(4),7-6(3)

Lukas Lacko(SVK) def John Paul Fruttero (USA) 6-4,6-3

Semifinal doubles

Colin Fleming(GBR)/Jamie Murray(GBR) def Alun Jones(AUS)/Robert Smeets(AUS) 6-1,7-5

Scott Lipsky(USA)/Dave Martin(USA)(3) def Richard Bloomfield(GBR)/Yen-Hsun Lu(TPE) 7-5,6-4

Mark Philippoussis continued to set the pace, defeating the only other seed remaining, #5 Tomas Cakl, 4-6,6-4,6-2. It looked in doubt for a moment when Poussis was down a set and then a break, but he turned it around and Cakl folded.

Poussis started out very similar to the Okun match, although the 1st serve was dismal (1 for 11 in the 1st 2 games), he seemed ready to make up for it with aggressive play. He was destroying some forehands early and Cakl seemed content to feed them. Cakl was handling his own serve well. Similar story to Mark's first 2 matches, the first set was fairly routine, on serve, not much from the receivers and wait til the 9th game. In the 9th was when Cakl's confidence paid off and he broke for a 5-4 lead and the set on his racquet. The trend had shifted from feeding the killer forehand to picking on the backhand just at the right time. Cakl seemed poised and confident in that first set. Not a big deal for the Aussie fans, but the sharpness seemed to be tapering a little... groundstrokes got more and more inconsistent.

Philippoussis was broken in the 3rd game of the 2nd set with 2 errors on his "groundies" in that game. Aussie fans were now starting to get worried, justifiably because it now was evident he wasn't close to his level of the night before. They stayed on serve for 3 more games, with Poussis serving out at love to get to 2-3. In the change over at 3 all (Mark broke serve), Philippoussis called for the trainer and got his toe treated and taped. Whatever it was, the trainer seemed to do the trick because he served out at love, 4 aces in a row to go ahead 4-3 in the 2nd set. Mark did seem to be moving a little less effectively... but Cakl gave up quite a few errors to let the lead slip away. Poussis served 10 aces in that 2nd set as the trend went to hit 'em bigger and less often.

Cakl fed the "bigger" appetite with errors and it was quickly 4-1 in the 3rd set, Philippoussis. Cakl served 2 double faults to close out the match. This wasn't the best quality that we've seen from Philippoussis and Cakl gave a lot of it away. Mark did what he needed to do to get through (this sounds familiar to last year). Let's see how the foot settles overnight.

In other action, American Scott Oudsema defeated Australian Nathan Healey in a 3 tiebreak battle, 6-7(8), 7-6(4), 7-6(3). This match was filled with big shots and short points and in the tiebreakers, it was unforced errors that made the difference. Scott Oudsema finished with 13 aces and Nathan Healey with 11 aces for the match.Oudsema showed some poise in this very tight battle. Healey was a little more fired up and his relentless chasing and effort makes you want him to come back again. He actually dove for a volley during this match, something very rare on hard courts. It was a Boris Becker on grass type dive. He chased down another ball just out of his reach and ended up falling into the sponsor box seats. We love the effort Nathan.

Sam Warburg is the 2nd American into the semifinals as he defeated Santiago Giraldo (COL), 6-4,6-3. Warburg broke in the 11th game for the 1st set and then the 2nd and 6th game of the 2nd set.

Lukas Lacko (SVK) continued to improve his best ever Challenger results as he defeated John Paul Fruttero (USA), 6-4,6-3. There was some nice touch in this battle. JP with the serve and volley lends an opportunity to see some great digs and volleys. Lukas adjusted to the style himself and it was good to see a bit of variety from the previous pounding match (Oudsema and Healey). Lukas and JP are both pretty good stories. You look at their careers and it is slow and steady climbing. Lukas playing well, his best result with not quite as many opportunities in the Slovak Republic. Then JP, taking the college route and not getting a lot of Wild card attention or opportunities and has been able to stay disciplined and do pretty well. Both must be pretty darned disciplined.

The music with Splash! at the end of the feature was a great touch too, perfect balance of all the good ones. Even Laurie was dancing. Tough to beat this.

More pictures