Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand stayed on course to become the first player to successfully defend the Ordina Open women's title after upsetting top-ranked Dinara Safina 7-5, 7-5 in Friday's semifinals. Tamarine, who beat Safina in last year's final, will play Belgian teenager Yanina Wickmayer on Saturday. Wickmayer overcame a swirling wind and match-point jitters to beat Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3. “Safina is very good and she also played really good,” Tamarine said. “It was a really difficult match because of the wind.” In the men's draw, qualifier Benjamin Becker rallied to beat fourth-seeded Rainer Schuettler 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in an all-German semifinal. He will play Raemon Sluiter of the Netherlands, who defeated Ivan Navarro of Spain 6-7 (5) 6-2, 6-3. Schuettler served for the match at 5-3 in the second set, but Becker broke him twice before sweeping through the final set. “It's a surprise,” Becker said. “In the first and second sets, it didn't look like I had a chance, but luckily I was able to turn the match around.” After breaking Schiavone with a powerful forehand winner in the eighth game of the final set, Wickmayer squandered three match points – including a double fault and missing an easy volley at the net _ before the Italian hit a backhand service return long. “I was a bit nervous,” the 19-year-old Wickmayer said. Tursunov-Dancevic final Second seed Dmitry Tursunov will play Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic in the final of the inaugural men's Eastbourne International after winning through in difficult, windy conditions on Friday. Russian Tursunov, the world number 27, had a straightforward 6-2 6-2 victory over eighth-seeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez while Dancevic beat French fourth seed Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-4. Virginie Razzano reached the final when Marion Bartoli retired with a leg injury while trailing 6-4, 1-0. Razzano will play sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Bartoli refused to shake hands with Razzano after pulling out of the all-French semifinal with a right quadriceps strain. Razzano had complained in a French newspaper that Bartoli often made a fuss over minor injuries to gain a mental advantage over opponents.
