Sport | Tennis
On a roll
Dutchman Paul Haarhuis continued his roll at the Legends Rock Dubai to move into the final with a 6-4, 6-0 win against Germany's Michael Stich at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on Friday.
- By Alaric Gomes, Staff Reporter
- Published: 01:31 November 24, 2007
- Image Credit: Karl Jeffs/Gulf News
- Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands in action against Germany's Michael Stich during the semifinal of the Legends Rock Dubai.
Dubai: Dutchman Paul Haarhuis continued his roll at the Legends Rock Dubai to move into the final with a 6-4, 6-0 win against Germany's Michael Stich at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on Friday.
Haarhuis was the better player on court using a lot of guile and power to stay in control most of the time against an error-prone Stich.
Haarhuis was in total control at the beginning of the first set taking a quick 4-0 lead with breaks in the first and third games.
But the lanky German fought back breaking Haarhuis on either side of holding serve to still trail the Dutchman 3-4.
However, Haarhuis was always in control holding serve one last time to take the set 6-4 in 31 minutes.
In the second set, things were no different as Haarhuis won a close first game and then held serve to go 2-0 clear. The German's serve then seemed to desert him completely as Haarhuis went 4-0 up.
From then on, there was no turning back for the Dutch player as he wrapped up proceedings in front of a near capacity crowd on centre court in exactly 55 minutes.
Haarhuis was to play against the winner of the second semifinal between Jim Courier and Thomas Muster.
Crucial difference
"I started off well and that made a crucial difference in the result at the end," Haarhuis admitted.
"His first serve percentage too was not that good and that helped as well. With so many people in the stands, I thought I was playing a late night match at the US Open," Haarhuis smiled. Stich was stoic about his loss. "The better player won at the end of the match. He was solid in his serve and made me pay for my mistakes," the German said.
"Maybe things would have been a bit different if I had won the first game of the second set. But I still think Paul would have won in the end," Stich shrugged.
Today's last day of the three-day Legends Rock Dubai will start at 4 pm with the playoff for third place, followed by a doubles exhibition match and then the final.
But the lanky German fought back breaking Haarhuis on either side of holding serve to still trail the Dutchman 3-4.
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