Pat Rafter ended Greg Rusedski's interest in the ATP Tour Tennis Masters Series in Cincinnati when he recorded a 5-7 7-6 6-4 quarter-final victory on Friday. The beaten Wimbledon finalist recovered from a tight first set reversal to take the second 7-5 in a tie-break after all the games went with serve.
Rafter then broke the tiring Rusedski in the ninth game of the third set after it had stayed with serve, and served out to win the match. It had been a battle of the big servers, with Rusedski's confidence and stoic approach matching Rafter throughout the first two sets. Rafter will now face either fellow Australian Lleyton Hewitt or Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in the semi-final tomorrow.
Filed by Shane Murray
