A first for Anderson
Only South African to reach Sydney final
KEVIN Anderson yesterday became the first South African tennis player to reach the final of the Sydney International, after beating Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
He will face Australian youngster Bernard Tomic, who reached his first final with a 7-6 (12/10), 64 win over Italian third seed Andreas Seppi in sweltering heat.
The match is live on SS6 and HD1 from 10:30am today.
Anderson, 26, fought off two match points to deny Benneteau victory.
The 36th-ranked Anderson won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10/8).
He went one better than Wayne Ferreira in 2004, the last South African to play in a Sydney semifinal.
“This tournament has been going on for a while. There have been some very good South Africans in the past, most notably Wayne Ferreira,” Anderson said.
“So, yeah, hopefully I’ll be able to take it one step further tomorrow.”
Anderson was down match point on his serve in the 12th game of the third set but saved it with a terrific second service ace and then held with a crosscourt backhand to take the set into a tie-break.
Benneteau, playing in the Sydney semis for the third time in four years, faced a match point at 65 in the tiebreak before he had a second match point at 7-6, only to shank a forehand off his racquet.
Anderson brought up his second match point with an ace but failed to capitalise. He had more luck with his third at 9-8, putting away a crosscourt winner at the net.
It is Tomic’s seventh straight win of the new year, including a triumph in Perth over world number one Novak Djokovic.
“It’s the start for me. It’s going to be a big match. I’m grateful for this opportunity. I think I’ve got a good shot to win it,” Tomic said.
“Obviously I’ve played Kevin once and won. He does serve well and he’s a difficult player but the tennis I’ve been playing now I’m really confident. I’ll be ready to go tomorrow night.”
Tomic struggled during a tough first set against Seppi and called for the trainer at 6-5 complaining of dizziness.
“It was really hot but it wasn’t the heat that was affecting me. It was just the dizziness. I think maybe because I ate too soon prior to coming out on court,” he said.
The match swung the Australian’s way in a titanic 22-point tie-break, with Tomic winning on his third set point after fighting off four set points from Seppi.
He broke serve in the ninth game of the second set with a fortuitous net cord on break point and powered through his service game to win the match. — Sapa