Football
Reuters 17y

UPDATE 2-Tennis-Hrbaty makes final after illness rules out Haas

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By Patrick Vignal

PARIS, Nov 4 - Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty qualified
for the final of the Paris Masters on Saturday after German
Tommy Haas retired in their semi-final to drop out of the
Masters Cup race.

Hrbaty was leading 6-4 1-0 when Haas, who needed to win the
title here to qualify for the year-end event, withdrew,
suffering from gastroenteritis.

"I started throwing up in the morning and I feel like doing
it again right now," said Haas. "It must be a virus. It's bad
luck. I was playing really well."

World number five Nikolay Davydenko will challenge Hrbaty in
Sunday's final after defeating Spain's Tommy Robredo 6-3 5-7 6-2
in the other semi-final.

Haas's misfortune means American James Blake fills the last
slot for the season's finale for the top eight players in the
ATP Race, starting on Nov. 12 in Shanghai.

Blake, who was eliminated by Haas in the third round here on
Thursday, joins Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Davydenko, Ivan
Ljubicic, Andy Roddick, Robredo and David Nalbandian in the
Shanghai field.

Hrbaty, seeded 17th, has not won a tournament in two years
and reached the final of a Masters Series tournament once
before, in 2000 in Monte Carlo.

"It's not the best way to win but I'm in the final," Hrbaty
said. "I don't play finals every day so I'm happy about that."

FIFTH TITLE

Davydenko was the highest-ranked player in the draw
following a string of withdrawals.

The 25-year-old Russian, chasing his fifth title of the
year, will feature in the final of a Masters Series for the
first time.

Courtesy of his great run in Paris, he will move two spots
up to third behind Federer and Nadal when the latest ATP
rankings are released on Monday.

He dropped his first set of the tournament against Robredo
but still advanced relatively comfortably.

Davydenko broke Robredo with a forehand winner in the fifth
game before taking the first set.

He captured sixth seed Robredo's serve again with a fierce
smash in the fourth game of the second set but the gritty
Spaniard broke back immediately.

Another break enabled Robredo to serve for the set, wrapping
it up with a service winner.

Davydenko regained control in the third, opening up a 3-0
lead to set up victory.

The Russian, clearly the favourite for Sunday's final on the
form he has displayed all week, said his mind was already set on
the Masters Cup.

"It's looking good for Shanghai," he said. "It's the same
surface as here and also the same balls. I'm really confident."

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