Haas Reaches Quarter-finals at Dubai Tennis Championships

Dubai, UAE, February 28th, 2007: Germany’s Tommy Haas brushed off his jetlag on Wednesday to beat Frenchman Florent Serra 7-6(5) 6-3 and reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open.

The number five seed beat Andy Roddick to win the Memphis title on Sunday, and then dashed to Dubai, arriving at 3am on Tuesday. Eighteen hours later he was on court to beat Radek Stepanek, and 18 hours after that he was back on court again to face Serra.

“I only got four hours sleep and was up again at 5.30,” said Haas, “but it’s going to take a tough opponent to beat me.”

There was little flair from either player in their baseline battle, but some of the rallies were long and brought out the best in both of them. The longest rally came when Haas held a set point at 5-4, but he sent a backhand wide as he tried to strike a winner down the line.

But Haas took the tiebreak, and then won four straight games in the second set to lead 4-1. And although he lost his serve in the next game, he claimed victory when Serra hit a double-fault on match point.

Another recent champion, Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny, also showed no signs of fatigue following his Rotterdam triumph as he upset sixth seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6(6) 6-3.

Former champion Fabrice Santoro of France wasted little time in dispatching Gilles Simon, beating his compatriot 6-4 6-2 in just 63 minutes.

Santoro will now play Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals, after the Swede followed his upset of eighth seed David Ferrer by claiming his first victory in four meetings with Slovak Dominik Hrbaty, winning 6-3 7-5.

The Dubai Tennis Championships is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and takes place under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

For further information: John Rynehart, Promoseven Sports Marketing,
(T) +9714 3210008; (M) +971 50 55 96795; john.rynehart@promoseven.com