| | Associated Press
COMMACK, N.Y. -- Magnus Norman, the tournament's top seed
and defending champion, rallied for a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7) victory
over Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands on Saturday night to set
up an all-Swedish final in the Hamlet Cup.
Norman will take on third-seeded Thomas Enqvist in Sunday's
final. Enqvist reached his first Hamlet Cup final by beating
France's Arnaud Clement 7-6 (2), 6-1.
|  | | Despite another slow start, Thomas Enqvist rallied past Arnaud Clement 7-6 (2), 6-1 and into the Hamlet Cup final. |
"This will be my second all-Swedish final this year," said
Norman, who beat Andreas Vinciguerra in the Swedish Open in July.
"Hopefully, I can break the spell Thomas has over me. I've lost
to him four times and it's always tough to play a good friend, but
I'm ready."
Norman, whose five titles last year led the ATP tour, has three
this year in compiling a 54-16 match record. He also was a
semifinalist in the French Open and the Australian Open.
"Tonight, I couldn't be angry about losing the first game,"
Norman said. "Richard played very good and deserved to win. In the
tiebreaker, I went for it and everything fell apart."
Krajicek, seeded No. 11, went for a smash in the opening game of
the tiebreaker but missed. Norman then won the next two points for
a 3-0 advantage.
"It was all downhill after that," said the 28-year-old
Krajicek, who has 17 career titles including Wimbledon in 1996.
"I'm still very optimistic heading into the U.S. Open."
Enqvist, who won in Cincinnati two weeks ago, displayed
confidence in beating Clement for the third straight time after
losing in their first encounter.
The Swede had 14 aces to Clement's six and won three straight
games to get even at 4-4. He started the rally with four of the
aces to cut the deficit to 2-4 and broke for 3-4. Each held service
to force the one-sided tiebreaker.
"Another slow start," said the 26-year old Enqvist, who has
not lost a set in his three victories and boosted his record for
the year to 41-16. "Yesterday it was 0-4, today 0-3, but I was
able to find my rhythm again.
"Victories like this give you confidence and confidence is what
it's all about once you step on the court."
There were two more breaks in the second set of the 1-hour,
31-minute match. In that set, Clement missed three break points at
1-1 and also blew a triple break point at 4-1.
"The serve is always one of my favorite shots," said Enqvist,
a member of Sweden's Olympic team that will compete in Sydney next
month. "I also took more control of his serve in the second set. I
don't know if he got tired, but I had a lot more trouble in the
first set."
Enqvist won 32 of 42 first-serve points to the loser's 27 of 26,
and the Swede also prevailed in second-serve points, 17 of 33 as
opposed to 12 of 28. | |
ALSO SEE
Saturday's results
Friday's results
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