Associated Press

Hamburg, May 15:

Roger Federer showed why he is the No 1 in the world by dismantling one of his predecessors, Lleyton Hewitt, 6-0, 6-4 in one hour to reach the final of the Hamburg Masters. Federer’s opponent will be defending champion Guillermo Coria, who rallied to beat Ivan Ljubicic 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Coria, seeded second behind Federer, improved to 31-0 on clay since the 2003 French Open semi-finals. He’s 16-0 on clay this year, with titles in Buenos Aires and Monte Carlo. Hewitt never found the answer to Federer’s all-court game with few errors. Clay is not supposed to be Federer’s best surface, but he won his first major title in Hamburg in 2002 and looks set to repeat.

Federer appeared to even have luck when he gained a break point in the second game of the last set when a netcord ball dropped softly on Hewitt’s side. Corria struggled in the first set against Ljubicic. But he breezed through the second, the only trouble coming when he had to fight off a break point at 5-1 following a double-fault. Coria then broke serve for a decisive 4-3 lead in the third.

Italian Open

ROME: Jennifer Capriati defeated top-seeded Serena Williams 6-4, 6-4 and will play in the Italian Open final for the first time. Williams was playing her first tournament back after a month off with a knee injury. The fifth-seeded Capriati held serve after breaking to go up 5-4 in the first set. In the second, she jumped out to a 5-1 lead as Williams sprayed errant shots all over the court. After Williams held again, Capriati finally served it out, with Williams hitting a net cord on the second match point. Earlier, second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo cruised into final with a 6-2, 6-3 win against Russia’s Vera Zvonareva. Mauresmo reached the championship round at Foro Italico for the fourth time in the last five years.