Tokyo, Oct 05: Rainer Schuettler of Germany continued his run of good form yesterday at the US$860,000 AIG Japan Open, booking his spot in the men's final where he will face Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean in a battle of the top two seeded players.
Paradorn, Asia's top-ranked player at no. 11 in the world, closed out the first set against Grosjean with an ace, but the mobile Frenchman then picked his game up a notch and came to the net more over the next two sets.
"I got off to a bad start," said Grosjean. "I slowly came back. I went to the net more and that made the difference."
Grosjean expects a good battle with Schuettler in today's final. Both players are trying to qualify for the lucrative season-ending Masters Cup in Houston, which features the top eight players in the world rankings.
"Rainer doesn't miss very often, he's a good fighter," Grosjean, the current world no. 10, said. "I'll come more to the net, but it's going to be a close match. I'll try to play more aggressive".
In the women's semis, Sharapova scored a 6-3 7-5 win over unseeded Zheng Jie of China, while Kapros breezed past Spain's Arantxa Parra 6-1 6-2.


Bureau Report