Ivanovic injury puts Clijsters into Cincinnati final

Ana Ivanovic receives treatment before retiring injured early in her semifinal against Kim Clijsters on Saturday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Kim Clijsters has the chance to win her third title on the WTA Tour this year
• Belgian moves into Cincinnati final after Ana Ivanovic suffers foot injury
• The Serbian retires hurt after losing the third game of the opening set on Saturday
• Fourth seed Clijsters will next face either Maria Sharapova or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Clijsters has reached her third final this year after Ana Ivanovic's recent resurgence was halted by a foot injury at the Cincinnati Open on Saturday.

Fourth seed Clijsters was leading 2-1 in the opening set of the semifinal when fellow former world No. 1 Ivanovic withdrew.

The Serbian had needed treatment on her left foot during the third game, but retired after returning to the court and being aced by the Belgian.

Ivanovic will be hoping that the injury does not ruin her chances of continuing her improvement at next month's U.S. Open in New York, the final Grand Slam event of the tennis year.

Video: At home with Kim Clijsters

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• Kim Clijsters
• Ana Ivanovic
• Maria Sharapova
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
• Tennis

"I was very scared. All of a sudden on that one shot, I felt something crack a little bit," she told reporters.

"Just on that one forehand when I went to step around it, I just felt like pain all of a sudden, so much pain in my foot and I couldn't step on it anymore.

"I tried a bit of tape, but I could not put any weight on it and there was no point in me continuing."

The 22-year-old, who before this week had won back-to-back matches only twice this year in reaching the semifinals in Brisbane and Rome, was seeking to reach her first final since Indian Wells in March 2009.

After almost being knocked out in the opening round of the hardcourt event, she had few problems in winning her next two matches and then on Friday won her quarterfinal against Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova, who earlier upset top seed Jelena Jankovic.

Clijsters, who won her finals in Brisbane in January and Miami in March, will play a Russian on Sunday following Saturday's second semi between former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova and 19-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Clijsters: Tennis star and supermum

Clijsters, playing her first event since losing in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon six weeks ago as she starts preparations for her U.S. Open title defense, defeated 11th seed Flavia Pennetta in her quarterfinal.

Sharapova cruised past French 16th seed Marion Bartoli in the night match, triumphing 6-1 6-4 after Istanbul champion Pavlyuchenkova won her 10th successive match with a 7-5 3-6 6-1 victory over 12th-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.

Murray stuns No. 1 Nadal to reach Toronto final

Andy Murray's other win over Rafael Nadal this year came when the Spaniard was injured at the Australian Open.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Andy Murray keeps Rogers Cup title defense alive by beating world No. 1 Rafael Nadal
• Fourth seed will face either Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final in Toronto
• Murray avenged his defeat by Spaniard Nadal in Wimbledon semifinals

RELATED TOPICS

• Andy Murray
• Rafael Nadal
• Novak Djokovic
• Roger Federer
• Tennis

(CNN) -- Defending champion Andy Murray defeated world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in straight sets on Saturday to march into the final of the Rogers Cup in Canada.

Fourth seed Murray avenged his defeat by the Spaniard in the Wimbledon semifinals as he triumphed 6-4 6-3 in the Toronto semifinal to set up a clash with either former No. 1 Roger Federer or No. 2 Novak Djokovic.

The 23-year-old Scot beat the 2008 champion for just the fourth time in 12 career meetings after his victory in a match which saw neither player serve to the best of their ability.

Nadal was successful with just 61 percent of his first serves, while Murray could manage only 46 percent of his.

"To win against him in the first big hardcourt tournament was a big boost for my confidence," Murray told Sky Sports. "I obviously played very well, didn't make too many errors and dictated a lot of points from the back of the court."

Murray followed up his crushing quarterfinal victory in-form David Nalbandian to boost his hopes of winning a first Grand Slam event at next month's U.S. Open, where in 2008 he lost in the final to Federer.

He broke Nadal in the eighth game of the first set, and then again to go 2-1 up in the second.

Nadal came to life as he won on Murray's serve in the sixth game and then went 4-3 up, but then gave up three break-points in the ninth game.

He saved two of them but then put a backhand into the net, and Murray served to 40-0 in the next game before Nadal saved one match-point and then capitulated.

The victory means Murray will keep his world No. 4 ranking ahead of the next event in the hardcourt season in Cincinnati. He has yet to win a title this year, losing in the finals of the Australian Open and in Los Angeles two weeks ago.

Swiss star Federer, like Nadal a two-time winner in Toronto, can move back above Djokovic in the rankings if he beats the Serbian in Saturday's second semifinal.

Roddick crashes out of Washington

Friday 6th August 2010

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Roddick crashes out of Washington

Andy Roddick was beaten in the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic as top seed Tomas Berdych progressed in Washington.

Second seed Andy Roddick - winner of the event in 2001, 2005 and 2007 - suffered a 6-3 6-3 loss to 13th seed Gilles Simon in one hour nine minutes.

Berdych had no such trouble, progressing to the last eight by defeating Andrey Golubev, the 16th seed, 6-3 5-7 7-5.

Wimbledon runner-up Berdych will now meet Xavier Malisse in the quarter-finals after the Belgian beat John Isner 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7/5).

Simon will meet David Nalbandian in the last eight.

Nalbandian recorded a 6-1 6-0 win over Marco Chiudinelli in 44 minutes.

Third seed Fernando Verdasco claimed a 6-4 7-5 win over qualifier Ryan Sweeting and will next face Marcos Baghdatis.

Eighth seed Baghdatis defeated Illya Marchenko 6-3 6-7 (5/7) 6-3.

Fourth seed Marin Cilic will meet Janko Tipsarevic next.

Cilic claimed a 6-4 4-6 6-2 win over Mardy Fish in two hours 16 minutes, while Tipsarevic defeated Alejandro Falla 6-3 6-4.

Wozniacki reaches semis in Copenhagen

Saturday 7th August 2010

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Wozniacki reaches semis in Copenhagen

Caroline Wozniacki booked her place in the semi-finals of the e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open with a three-set victory over Julia Goerges.

After being taken to a decider in her quarter-final encounter with Iveta Benesova yesterday, world number three Wozniacki again thrilled her home crowd as she rallied to defeat German opponent Goerges 3-6 6-0 7-6 (7/3) in two hours and four minutes.

Next up for Wozniacki is a meeting with Russian qualifier Anna Chakvetadze, who defeated Polona Hercog, the sixth seed from Slovenia, 6-4 6-3.

Second seed Li Na of China made short work of booking her place in the semi-finals as she swept aside eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-1 6-2.

Her opponent in the next round will be Klara Zakopalova, the seventh seed from the Czech Republic, who posted a 6-1 7-5 triumph over unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea.