Tennis: Haas redeems himself to carry Germany into final

Tommy Haas and Alexander Waske rode a wave of passionate German support to carry the host nation into the World Team Cup final with a 2-1 victory over Spain on Friday.

The duo's heroics will give Germany a chance to reclaim the title they last won in 1998 when they lock horns with favourites Argentina on Saturday.

Haas suffered a day of mixed fortunes as he left the hosts on the brink of elimination after being edged out by Tommy Robredo 7-6 6-4 in the opening singles.

However, Florian Mayer displayed steely-eyed determination to defeat a cramping David Ferrer 3-6 7-6 6-3 and level the Blue Group tie at 1-1.

The result allowed Haas to redeem himself as he joined forces with Waske to win a highly-charged doubles encounter 7-6 6-3 against Robredo and Santiago Ventura.

Earlier, Haas often brought the partisan crowd to its feet with his antics during a tight first-set tussle with Robredo.

One athletic lunge at the net, reminiscent of his more celebrated countryman Boris Becker, was greeted by loud cheers around centre court.

But after surrendering the first-set tiebreak 7-4, Haas could not keep pace with his opponent's baseline groundstrokes and slipped to defeat.

"It's frustrating that I couldn't win the match but I'm not disappointed with my performance," said Haas, who has been drawn to play Mayer in the first round of the French Open which begins on Monday.

"I have a good feeling going into the French (but) it's always difficult to play a countryman."

Ferrer appeared to have victory in his sights when he served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. Mayer, though, refused to cave in and the players went on to trade breaks for three successive games.

Despite being ranked 33 places below his opponent, Mayer ran the Spaniard ragged in the tiebreak to clinch it 7-3.

Ferrer never recovered from that setback and his request to receive treatment on his cramping legs at 4-2 down in the third set was greeted with whistles and jeers from the flag-waving German fans.

The timeout did little to change Ferrer's form and he bowed out after two hours 11 minutes.

"I fought really well and am also proud of myself because I don't think I've ever fought like this before," said Mayer.

"Of course I was a bit lucky because he served for the match but in the end he was more tired than I was."

Sweden beat a second-string United States 2-1 in the other Blue Group match. The tie had no bearing on the outcome of the tournament as both nations had lost their previous two contests.

In the Istanbul Cup, Venus Williams moved closer to ending her year-long title drought when she reached the final with a 6-1 6-3 win over Bulgaria's Tszvetana Pironkova.

The top-seeded American, whose sister Serena has pulled out of the French Open with an ankle sprain, will meet second seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic.

- REUTERS