TENNIS in DEPTH.

Top-seeded Robin Soderling withdrew from the Stockholm Open semifinals Saturday because of an elbow injury, allowing Marcos Baghdatis to advance to the final against Olivier Rochus.

Rochus outlasted Tomaz Bellucci of Brazil 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 to reach Sunday’s final at Royal Tennis Hall.

Soderling has been bothered by a sore right elbow since July, when he withdrew from the quarterfinals in Washington. He said he’s felt pain in the last few weeks.

“I had an MRI Tuesday and they told me that I have to rest two, three weeks to get well,” he said.

Soderling is vying for one of the two remaining spots for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London next month. He hasn’t decided if he’ll play upcoming tournaments in Valencia and Paris.

“I haven’t withdrawn from any tournaments so far,” Soderling said. “I’ll just wait and see and have more medical examinations.”

The 10th-ranked Swede, a surprising finalist in the French Open this year, was the only seeded player left in the tournament.

“I’m sorry for Robin first of all,” Baghdatis said. “It’s not easy to retire, especially when you’re playing at home. But obviously I’m happy to get through to the final.”

Baghdatis has not lost a set in his three matches. Ranked 66th, Baghdatis has won two career titles. He’s looking forward to playing his practice partner on Sunday.

“Rochus is playing great,” Baghdatis said. “He’s a good friend of mine and we’ve warmed up together every day this week. It’s nice to play a friend in the final.”

Rochus, ranked 87th, also has two career titles. He broke Bellucci’s serve twice in the decisive set to lead 4-0. Bellucci broke back twice, cutting the score to 5-3. But Rochus held his serve to close out the match, winning on his third match point.

“I played a good match,” he said. “I stayed positive and didn’t give up.”

Rochus has had a tough year following shoulder surgery.

“My ranking was down at 120,” he recalled. “To finish near the top 50 is incredible for me.”

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Robin Soderling advanced to the Stockholm Open semi-finals with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 defeat of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

The French Open runner-up shook off an early break by his Spanish opponent to triumph in the 10th quarter-final of his breakthrough season.

The world number 10, beaten in the final by Argentina’s David Nalbandian last year, is battling for one of two remaining places in the eight-man ATP World Finals in London next month and is currently ranked a provisional ninth behind Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco.

Soderling can gain some ground this week and is next set to face Marcos Baghdatis after the Cypriot won a clash of two former Australian Open finalists with Arnaud Clement 6-4 6-4.

Brazilian Thomas Bellucci served up 18 aces to secure a 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 win over Joachim Johansson to leave Soderling as the only remaining home hope.

Johansson put up a notable fight, almost matching Bellucci’s ace output with 13 of his own.

Bellucci’s previous quarter-final appearance earlier this year carried him on to lift the trophy at Gstaad, and the 21-year-old will contend for a spot in the final against Oliver Rochus after the Belgian beat Jarkko Nieminen 6-3 2-6 6-1.

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Yanina Wickmayer defeated Kirsten Flipkens 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-1 in an all-Belgian battle Friday to reach the semifinals of the Luxembourg Open.

Wickmayer is seeking her second tournament victory in a row after winning last week’s title in Linz, Austria. She will play Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland in the semi final.

Fans had been anticipating an all-Belgian final involving second-seeded Kim Clijsters, but the U.S. Open champion lost her second-round match against Patty Schnyder of Switzerland on Thursday. Daniela Hantuchova who was the highest seed remaining in the tournament lost to Shaha Peer 6-2, 7-6, and Peer will go thru to the semi final to meet Patty Schnyder. Wickmayer has already been invited to the year end Bali Tourmanent of Champions.

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Even though Jelena Jankovic has qualified for the final place in the season ending WTA Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, it is doubtful that she will manage a win against any of the other seven players unless her game undergoes a dramatic change for the better. She qualified by default as a result of the other contending players losses, not by her own winning performance.

Alisa Kleybanova of Russia served Jankovic off the court in a quarter final match at the Kremlin Cup with an overpowering display of accurate deep serves and powerful groundstrokes to win easily 6-4, 6-3. It was the unathletic looking  Russian who moved the better of the two players today. As the second set progressed so did Jankovic’s obvious frustration. She failed to retrieve so many shots that were placed just inside the lines, and she was caught out of position time and time again.

“My goal today was to play my game from the first point to the last, and I did that,” Kleybanova commented after the match. “I had to keep my level up throughout the match against Jelena, not just play a good first set then relax. I did that very well, and that’s why I was able to win in straight sets today.”

Kleybanova’s win over the No.9-ranked Jankovic was her fifth Top 10 win of the year and of her career.

But strange things have happened this year on the WTA tour, maybe Jankovic will surprise everyone, including herself I’m sure, and find the form she had at this time last year.

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Second-seeded Kim Clijsters was among Thursday’s losers in a second-round match at the Luxembourg Open.

Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder, who is not seeded, downed the former World No. 1, a two-time U.S. Open champion, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6).

“I played a great match with some great defense,” Schnyder said following her third victory in nine career matches against Clijsters. “I was moving very well and moving the ball around the court well, too, which helped me make very few unforced errors. I am very pleased today.”

This was Clijster’s first loss since before the US Open in August.

“Patty played extremely smart today. It’s tough to force errors on her and break through her game,” Clijsters said. “I made more unforced errors and my first serve wasn’t working the way I would have liked it to. I had my chances in the first set and I tried to fight through. It’s disappointing when you’re not playing your best.”

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Yanina Wickmayer edged Alize Cornet 7-5, 7-6 (6) Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Luxembourg Open.

Wickmayer will play another Belgian, Kirsten Flipkens, on Friday.

U.S. Open winner Kim Clijsters will face Patty Schnyder of Switzerland later Thursday.

Fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova defeated Lucie Hradecka 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. She’ll play Shahar Peer, who defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer is unlikely to face a suspension for allegedly failing to report her whereabouts to anti-doping officials three times.

The prosecutor at a Belgian anti-doping tribunal on Thursday called only for a warning in principle. The tribunal will rule on the case on Nov. 5.

The 20-year-old Wickmayer has said she had trouble with her password in the computerized system overseen by the World Anti-Doping Agency. She also said registered mail at her home could not be signed off on since she was traveling to WTA tournaments.

She insisted she never missed an anti-doping test and her samples were always negative.

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“It’s very exciting for me to reach the quarter-finals, especially because I haven’t got this far in a lot of tournaments this year and I like it here in Russia,” said Ginepri. “It was good that I could follow up the great win over Igor (Andreev) with a very solid match today.”

Robby Ginepri reached his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season after defeating Spaniard Marcel Granollers 7-6(5), 6-0 Thursday at the Kremlin Cup, an ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tennis tournament in Moscow, Russia.

Ginepri, who had upset fourth seed and 2005 champion Igor Andreev in the first round, built on his success by saving nine of the 10 break points he faced to dismiss Granollers in 90 minutes. The 27 year old broke serve four times from nine opportunities and struck seven aces in the pair’s first meeting.

World No. 92 Ginepri was impeded at the start of the season by a bout of appendicitis that left him 30 pounds lighter when he returned to the tour in May. He had won just four of 17 matches when he snapped a four-year title drought with victory at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, defeating Sam Querrey in an all-American final.

Ginepri is through to the quarter-finals in Moscow for the first time, after suffering a second-round exit (l. to Kunitsyn) on debut last year, and next will face sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic, who advanced when Christophe Rochus retired ill with Tipsarevic leading 6-4, 2-1.

“Bad luck for him today but I think I was going to win anyway as I was in control of the match,” said Tipsarevic. “I feel really good right now. It will be tough against Ginepri and I need to start off well as I have done in my two matches here.”

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