BANGKOK, Sep 30 (Reuters) Top seed Ivan Ljubicic ended local hero Paradorn Srichaphan's chance of making his first tournament final on home soil after a 6-3 6-2 win at the Thailand Open today.
The Croat will now take on James Blake of the United States after his 3-6 6-4 7-6 semi-final win over Russia's Marat Safin.
Ljubicic dented Paradorn's hopes right from the start, utilising his powerful serve to silence the partisan Bangkok crowd and keep the Thai out of the match.
''I had to use my serve, because it's my weapon, my best shot, and it stopped him,'' Ljubicic told a news conference.
''It was good for me to break him early and not let him back in.
I wanted to close the match and I had to stop the crowd getting involved.'' Paradorn, who says he would rather win a tournament in Thailand than a tennis grand slam, said he was frustrated he couldn't make an impact on the match.
''I feel disappointed, but he's playing well and I couldn't play my game,'' he told reporters.
''He just closed the match. I wanted to get to the final all along, but this was the best I could do.'' Blake had looked set to close out his match with Safin after breaking to go 6-5 up in the final set, but the Russian broke right back to force a tiebreak.
Despite playing some of the best tennis since his return after six months on the sidelines, Safin crumbled and handed Blake the victory.
Blake, the third seed, predicted a return to winning ways soon for the former world number one Safin, who has not won a title in almost two years.
''It was a close match and I thought I had a chance, but he's playing like he's top 10 in the world again,'' Blake told reporters.
''In the first and third set he was back to the player that beat Roger Federer. I really had to weather the storm and come through in the third set tiebreak.'' Safin said he was annoyed that after 15 barren months, he was still unable to reach a tournament final.
''I can't seem to get to a final -- it slipped away,'' he said.
''I broke back but it slipped away again, and the tiebreak was a disaster. I was so close.'' ''I have lost a lot of matches I should have won, and if I'd won half of them, I'd be in the top 10,'' added Safin, who has dropped down to number 72 since winning the 2005 Australian Open.
REUTERS DH KN1945
The Croat will now take on James Blake of the United States after his 3-6 6-4 7-6 semi-final win over Russia's Marat Safin.
Ljubicic dented Paradorn's hopes right from the start, utilising his powerful serve to silence the partisan Bangkok crowd and keep the Thai out of the match.
''I had to use my serve, because it's my weapon, my best shot, and it stopped him,'' Ljubicic told a news conference.
''It was good for me to break him early and not let him back in.
I wanted to close the match and I had to stop the crowd getting involved.'' Paradorn, who says he would rather win a tournament in Thailand than a tennis grand slam, said he was frustrated he couldn't make an impact on the match.
''I feel disappointed, but he's playing well and I couldn't play my game,'' he told reporters.
''He just closed the match. I wanted to get to the final all along, but this was the best I could do.'' Blake had looked set to close out his match with Safin after breaking to go 6-5 up in the final set, but the Russian broke right back to force a tiebreak.
Despite playing some of the best tennis since his return after six months on the sidelines, Safin crumbled and handed Blake the victory.
Blake, the third seed, predicted a return to winning ways soon for the former world number one Safin, who has not won a title in almost two years.
''It was a close match and I thought I had a chance, but he's playing like he's top 10 in the world again,'' Blake told reporters.
''In the first and third set he was back to the player that beat Roger Federer. I really had to weather the storm and come through in the third set tiebreak.'' Safin said he was annoyed that after 15 barren months, he was still unable to reach a tournament final.
''I can't seem to get to a final -- it slipped away,'' he said.
''I broke back but it slipped away again, and the tiebreak was a disaster. I was so close.'' ''I have lost a lot of matches I should have won, and if I'd won half of them, I'd be in the top 10,'' added Safin, who has dropped down to number 72 since winning the 2005 Australian Open.
REUTERS DH KN1945
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