Music: {allcanada} CANADIAN DANCEVIC LOSES IN STRAIGHT SETS AT SA OPEN

Friday, February 4, 2011

{allcanada} CANADIAN DANCEVIC LOSES IN STRAIGHT SETS AT SA OPEN

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Canadian Frank Dancevic is out of the SA Open men's tennis tournament, losing in straight sets to Adrian Mannarino of France in the quarter-finals Friday.

The native of Niagara Falls, Ont., lost 6-3, 6-2 in just 54 minutes to the No. 6 seed.

Dancevic beat defending champion and top-seeded Feliciano Lopez in the first round, but Mannarino broke three times and powered past his unseeded challenger.

Mannarino will face fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson, who defeated Slovakia's Karol Beck 6-3, 6-1.

The 24-year-old Anderson mixed powerful serves with clever drop shots and led 10-3 on winners for a place in the last four at Montecasino -- his second ATP semifinal.

"It was a positive match for me," the No. 56-ranked Anderson said. "My serve's pretty effective at the moment and I'm happy with tonight's performance. I was feeling pretty free and when I'm loose I think I play my best."

Anderson, who is from Johannesburg, has a 2-1 edge in previous meetings with Mannarino.

"It's going to be a challenge (playing Mannarino)," he said. "I'm going to have to be on top of my game."

India's Somdev Devvarman and South African wild card Izak van der Merwe complete the semifinal lineup, with all four players searching for a first career ATP title.

Van der Merwe and Anderson are the first home players to reach the semis of the SA Open since its return to the tour in 2009.

The unseeded Devvarman improved his record to 3-0 over Rik de Voest, another South African wild card entrant, with a comeback 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1 win for a place in his second ATP semi.

Devvarman was 4-1 up in the second set but let it slip, and was two points away from defeat in the tiebreak before wrestling back the momentum.

He took the breaker 7-5, then broke twice straight away and raced through the deciding set for a place in the last four for the first time since 2009, when he lost in the final of his home tournament in Chennai to Croatia's Marin Cilic.

"It's not the easiest thing for Rik to come back from two breaks after you're two points away from the match," Devvarman said. "Maybe I was lucky to get out of the second set in the breaker and it went my way from then."

The U.S.-based Devvarman also has a 3-0 career record over Van der Merwe.

Van der Merwe reached a first ATP semifinal when he beat Simon Greul of Germany 7-6 (5), 6-2, continuing a strong showing this week from local players.

South Africa had three players in the last eight for the first time at an ATP event since 1996.

The 170th-ranked Van der Merwe broke Greul twice in the second set for another surprise win after upsetting last year's runner-up Stephane Robert of France in the first round. He has dropped just one set in his three matches.

"I can't be more pleased with the way I played," he said of his victory over Greul. "I executed really well and I'm happy to be in the semis. This is my best achievement."