Ljubicic makes final
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ByEurosport
Published 30/09/2006 at 13:18 GMT
Fans in Bangkok were denied the chance to see home hero Paradon Srichaphan in the final of the Thailand Open when he was beaten in the semi-final by Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic. Top seed Ljubicic will meet James Blake in the final on Sunday after the American
Ivan Ljubicic, Thailand
Image credit: Reuters
The first semi-final looked all-but over when Blake broke Safin's serve to go 6-5 up in the final set, but the Russian broke right back to force a tiebreak.
But despite playing some of the best tennis since his return after six months on the sidelines, Safin crumbled and handed Blake the victory.
Blake, the third seed, later predicted a return to winning ways for the former world number one Safin, who has not won a title in almost two years.
"It was a close match and I thought I had a chance, but he's playing like he's top 10 in the world again," Blake told a news conference.
"In the first and third set he was back to the player that beat Roger Federer. I really had to weather the storm and come through in the third set tiebreak."
In Saturday's second semi-final, Ljubicic had too much for Srichaphan to win in straight sets, 6-3 6-2.
Srichaphan had knocked out an in-form Tim Henman to reach the last four, but was unable to lift his game to meet the challenge of a solid Ljubicic performance, despite being roared on by a partisan and vocal home crowd.
"I had to use my serve, because it's my weapon, my best shot, and it stopped him," Ljubicic told a news conference.
"It was good for me to break him early and not let him back in. I wanted to close the match and I had to stop the crowd getting involved."
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