Posted at 7:00 a.m., Friday, July 27, 2007
Tennis: Monaco upsets top-seed Robredo in Austria
Associated Press
KITZBUEHEL, Austria — Juan Monaco of Argentina upset top-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 today in the quarterfinals of the Austrian Open.Monaco will play 11th-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain for a berth in the final.
Defending champion Agustin Calleri and 10th-seeded Potito Starace also advanced to the semifinals.
The seventh-ranked Robredo couldn't compete with the attacking game of Monaco, who won the first set after coming back from an early break of serve.
The fifth-seeded Monaco made more errors in the second set, but he broke Robredo twice in the third to lead 5-1. He missed three match points on serve, before finishing it off on his fourth chance.
"A great win," Monaco said. "I am proud of the way I played as I raised my game well after dropping the second set."
Verdasco defeated Argentina's Sergio Roitman 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-3.
Calleri defeated 15th-seeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Calleri converted his third set point in the first-set tiebreaker after missing two chances leading 5-3.
In the second set, Lapentti dropped serve three times.
The sixth-seeded Argentine will next play Starace, who beat Andreas Seppi 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7) in an all-Italian matchup.
Starace saved a match point trailing 5-3 in the second set, but broke serve twice to force a decider.
Both players had one break of serve in the third set before Starace closed it out on his third match point.
