MEMPHIS (Tennessee), March 1: Top-seeded American Andy Roddick was outgunned 7-6, 6-3 by Swede Robin Soderling after a battle of big-serving in the Memphis Championship quarter-finals on Friday.

Soderling, the eighth seed, trumped the American’s 15 aces by unleashing 16 of his own to seal victory in one hour and 25 minutes in an explosive match on the Stadium Court.

Soderling will next face fourth-seed Radek Stepanek after the Czech beat Australian Chris Guccione 7-6, 6-1.

Steve Darcis of Belgium fired down nine aces to crush Germany’s Benjamin Becker 6-1, 6-0 in the first quarter-final of the day.

The 23-year-old from Liege will face ATP Tour veteran Jonas Bjorkman in the last four, the Swede having battled past American Donald Young 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 in a two-hour contest.

In the women’s draw, teenager Olga Govortsova of Belarus upset third-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to reach her first WTA final.

The 19-year-old fifth seed shrugged off four double faults to scrape through a tight semi-final in just under two hours and book a place in the title match with fourth-seeded Lindsay Davenport.

Former world No 1 Davenport, competing in her first WTA event on US soil in two years, hammered New Zealand qualifier Marina Erakovic 6-0, 6-3 in less than an hour.

Govortsova beat Peer, then ranked 18th in the world, at Stanford last year to achieve her first victory over a top-20 player.

Friday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 4-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt Chris Guccione (Australia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; 8-Robin Soderling (Sweden) bt 1-Andy Roddick (US) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) bt Donald Young (US) 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6); Steve Darcis (Belgium) bt Benjamin Becker (Germany) 6-1, 6-0.

Women’s singles:

Semi-finals: 4-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-0, 6-3; 5-Olga Govortsova (Belarus) bt 3-Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

All Russian final

DUBAI: Svetlana Kuznetsova will face Elena Dementieva in an all-Russian final at the Dubai Open after the pair won marathon semi-finals.

Second-seed Kuznetsova overcame Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 on Friday, and eighth-seeded Dementieva was also stretched before beating unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. Both matches took almost three hours.

Kuznetsova twice took the lead in the opening set before immediately dropping her own serve. After missing out on a set point at 5-4, she was left to rue her missed opportunity when Jankovic came back strongly to wrap up the first set.

Instead of hanging her head, the Russian responded by jumping to a 3-0 lead in the second. But her advantage was short-lived as Jankovic broke twice to streak 4-3 ahead.

This time it was Jankovic who let her chance slip away as Kuznetsova claimed the next three games.

After an early exchange of breaks in the deciding set, Jankovic visibly waned. Kuznetsova survived three break points at 2-2 and then broke to lead 4-2.

She squandered six match points on the Jankovic serve before serving out to love for victory.

Dementieva and Schiavone engaged in a succession of very lengthy but highly entertaining rallies, some stretching to over 30 exchanges.

Dementieva led 5-3, but she allowed the Italian, who knocked out world No 1 Justine Henin on Thursday, to snatch the next four games and the set.

After a series of service breaks in the second set Schiavone dropped her serve at 4-4, and although Dementieva failed to serve out the set at 5-4 she broke again to lead 6-5 and then levelled the match.

Schiavone, who received treatment for a tight quad muscle, was able to earn just seven points as Dementieva swept to a 4-0 lead in the deciding set.

Results:

Semi-finals: 8-Elena Dementieva (Russia) bt Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 5-7, 7-5, 6-2; 2-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt 4-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.—Reuters