| | Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- Yevgeny Kafelnikov had no one to blame but
himself.
The second-seeded Russian double-faulted four times, twice in a
first-set tiebreaker, in a 7-6 (4), 6-2 loss to Tim Henman on
Friday night in the quarterfinals of the RCA Championships.
Henman, the British star seeded seventh, advanced to Saturday's
semifinals against third-seeded Marat Safin of Russia. Safin beat
No. 12 Sebastien Grosjean of France 0-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In the other semifinal, 19-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt,
seeded fifth, will meet top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil.
Kafelnikov was up 2-0 in the tiebreaker before he double-faulted
twice. Henman, who hasn't won a tour title since October of 1998,
broke Kafelnikov in the second game of the second set.
Both Kafelnikov and Safin had to play third-round matches
earlier Friday.
Safin, who took a nap after his earlier match, was broken three
times and lost the first set to Grosjean in 18 minutes. He was
never in trouble in the second set, however, and overcame a 2-0
deficit in to win the third.
Hewitt advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Sweden's Thomas
Enqvist, and Kuerten, the ATP Champions Race leader, needed just 63
minutes to oust No. 10 Wayne Ferreira of South Africa 6-3, 6-3.
Earlier in the day, Kafelnikov swept Italy's Gianluca Pozzi 6-3,
6-3 and Safin stopped Morocco's Karim Alami 6-4, 6-4.
Enqvist had been on a roll since winning last week's Tennis
Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati, but both players thought
Enqvist's three-set win over Carlos Moya on Thursday took its toll.
"He's played a lot of tennis," Hewitt said. "It's always
hard, I suppose, going out there after he won such a big event last
week and trying to perform."
Enqvist faded fast after staving off four break points in the
eighth game of the second set, only to have Hewitt finally break
his serve. Hewitt finished the Swede with 115- and 124-mph aces in
the ninth game.
"I don't feel so well," said Enqvist, the 1995 champion. "I
was really tired after the match yesterday, and I was not fit
enough, and I didn't play well enough to have a chance to beat
Lleyton today. He's a great player."
When asked if Hewitt's service was particularly troubling,
Enqvist smiled and said, "I think I had trouble with everything
today."
Hewitt felt he was on top of the world after his 47th victory in
58 matches this season.
"That's one of the best matches I've played all year," Hewitt
said. "I hit the ball great out there today. Toward the end of the
second set, I started really popping my serve. It makes tennis a
lot easier."
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ALSO SEE
Friday's results
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