Rafter escapes against Federer
.c The Associated Press

HALLE, Germany (AP) - Patrick Rafter fought off match point with a twisting
ace and beat Switzerland's Roger Federer in three sets Friday to advance to
the $975,000 Gerry Weber Open semifinals.

Rafter, seeded second, won 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) in this grass-court
Wimbledon tuneup. The Aussie was a Wimbledon finalist last year.

Top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia needed a few clutch points of his own
before surviving three tiebreaks in a 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) win over
Nicolas Escude of France.

In the semis, Rafter will play Fabrice Santoro of France, while Kafelnikov
plays seventh-seeded Thomas Johansson, who beat Swedish compatriot Jonas
Bjorkman 6-4, 6-2.

Santoro, who reached the French Open quarterfinals, defeated German qualifier
Lars Burgsmueller, 7-6 (3), 6-4, to earn his chance against Rafter.

``I played tennis as well as I can,'' Rafter, who lost last year's Wimbledon
final to Pete Sampras, said. ``Roger was better than me for more than 1 1/2
sets. There were perhaps two or three decisive points -and I won.''

Rafter made his escape while trailing 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker. His
first serve spun out of the court and a lunging Federer was unable to reach
the ball.

The 19-year-old Federer, a former junior champion at Wimbledon, has risen
from 29th to eighth in the Champions race this year.

``I was very, very impressed,'' Rafter said of Federer. ``Give him some time
and he'll be one of the best. I didn't expect him to play such great
serve-and-volley.''

Kafelnikov, Rafter survive at Gerry Weber Open
SportsTicker

HALLE, Germany (Ticker) -- If top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov and No. 2 Patrick
Rafter were looking for challenging grasscourt matches in advance of
Wimbledon, then their wishes certainly came true. 

Kafelnikov and Rafter each prevailed in third-set tiebreaks Friday to advance
to the semifinals of the $975,000 Gerry Weber Open grass tournament. 

Kafelnikov took two hours and 22 minutes to get the better of Nicolas Escude
of France, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4).  The Russian won the final four
points of the third-set tiebreak to duplicate his win over the Frenchman in
the quarterfinals at Halle last year. 

Rafter also rallied from one set down to conquer sixth-seeded Roger Federer
of Switzerland, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4). 

"Even if I had lost, I would have been satisfied," Rafter said. "Roger is a
great player and will be dominating for years to come." 

"Of course I'm disappointed," said the 19-year-old Federer.  "I think this
match didn't deserve a winner.  I felt good but wasn't lucky enough in the
end.  We were both level but I had my chances." 

Rafter has defeated Federer in all three career meetings, including the
quarterfinals of the Ericsson Open at Miami in March. 

No. 7 Thomas Johansson of Sweden overwhelmed fellow countryman Jonas
Bjorkman, 6-4, 6-2, to set up a semifinal clash with Kafelnikov.  Johansson
will hope for an indentical result as the Dubai Tennis Championships earlier
this season, when he posted a straight-sets victory against the Russian. 

The last German bowed out of the Gerry Weber Open.  Fabrice Santoro of France
triumphed over wild-card entry Lars Burgsmuller, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. 

"Today I'm a little disappointed about my loss, but from tomorrow on, I'll be
happy about my run to the quarterfinal," Burgsmuller said. 

Santoro will battle Rafter in Saturday's other semifinal. 

"I've never played Fabrice, but we all know he's a wizard on the court,"
Rafter said.  "If I play as good as today, there's no reason there shouldn't
be the same result." 

Just enough

Rafter saves match point, rallies to beat Federer
Click here for more on this story
Posted: Friday June 15, 2001 10:36 AM
Updated: Friday June 15, 2001 12:22 PM


HALLE, Germany (Reuters) -- Patrick Rafter saved a match point against Swiss Roger Federer for a spectacular 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) victory on Friday which sent him through to the semifinals of the Halle ATP tournament.

Australian Rafter, the second seed in the grass court event, went 6-5 down in the tie break which ended the second set but a second serve winner enabled him to survive. A brilliant forehand saw him win the tie break 8-6.

The third set was just as close and came to another tie break. Two aces in succession helped Rafter take it 7-4 to set up an intriguing semifinal battle against France's Fabrice Santoro, who stopped German Lars Burgsmueller 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

"If I'd lost this match I still would have said it was a very good match," Rafter said after getting a welcome morale boost ahead of Wimbledon, where he reached the final last year.

The 19-year-old Federer, who was a quarterfinalist at the French Open last week, proved he could do damage on grass as well by giving Rafter a hard time.

"I think he's a very dangerous player on any surface," Rafter said of his opponent. "He was the better player for one set and a half and even after that it only came down to one or two points here and there."

Rafter, who plans to retire at the end of the year, has never played Santoro in his career but said he knew what to expect.

"He's like a wizard on the court and he will play you like a puppet if you're not careful," the twice U.S. Open champion said of the veteran Frenchman. "It will be interesting. I'm looking forward to it."

Santoro had earlier ended German presence in Halle by stopping Burgsmueller for his first appearance in the semifinals of a grass court tournament.

Santoro, usually more at ease on clay, served extremely well to end the run of wild card entrant Burgsmueller in an entertaining match.

Both players held serve throughout a tight first set and a tiebreak was needed, which Santoro took 7-3 with his opponent hitting a forehand long on set point.

A double fault by the unheralded German enabled Santoro to move 4-3 up in the second set. The Frenchman stayed on top, sealing victory when Burgsmueller netted a return on the second match point after one hour and 44 minutes.

"I don't regard myself as a grass court player and I'm very satisfied with my performance here," said Santoro.

"I managed to put most of my first serves in and that was the key," he added. "I was surprised by Burgsmueller. He's a really good player."