Classy Kucera leaves Canas clueless

It was vintage Kucera on Friday. Guillermo will remember the caning he got today for some time.

The Slovak reached his second straight semifinal here. It was also a sweet victory when one considers his loss to the Argentine here last year and the French Open.

Kucera, who was involved in one of the remarkable matches last year with Fabrice Santoro, was on fire straightaway. After 22 minutes, Canas trailed 0-4 with two breaks of serve as Kucera was hitting winners from both flanks.

The Argentine was outhit by the accuracy and depth of the Slovak’s flowing groundstrokes. He even ventured into the net to break the rhythm of Kucera which also could not produce the desired result because of his poor volleying skills.

The set was over after 37 minutes as Kucera broke Canas for the third time. It looked curtains for Canas when he was 1-3 down with a break in the second and Kucera hitting groundstrokes with unrelenting accuracy. However, the Argentine, who runs down every ball and one of the best scramblers on the ATP Tour, broke back in the fifth game, battling hard to stay in the match.

The last part of the match was the most interesting one with Canas making a huge effort to turn the match his way. He scrambled for every point and had a nasty fall into the hoarding while trying to retrieve a deep volley from Kucera in the ninth game.

Luckily, he was not injured as the crowd roared ‘go Canas’. Kucera, who has at times frittered away winning opportunities, was in control. He held his nerve and serve in one of the most intense games (11th) where the Argentine had chances to break.

The Slovak got to match point after a long rally from a classy forehand winner as Canas made some gestures. There was pin drop silence at the stadium during that rally. He finished the match with a forehand crosscourt which Canas could not get above the net.

Kucera’s victory ended the seven match winning streak of Canas here. Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard, has been moving up quietly in the tournament. He pulled off a surprise defeating sixth seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-2, 7-5 to reach the semifinals. It was Schuettler’s second straight loss to Lisnard.