2008 COUNTRYWIDE CLASSIC AUGUST 4 – 10, 2008, UCLA CAMPUS, LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA – Day 5

The Andy Roddick Express rolled on Friday night at UCLA as the former U.S. Open champion and top-seeded American won easily, dropping just four games for the second consecutive night.

Roddick beat France’s Marc Gicquel, 6-3 6-1, before just under 7,000 fans at UCLA to earn a spot into tonight’s semifinals. Roddick will play German Denis Gremelmayr for the first time in the evening match not before 7:30 p.m.

Gremelmayr had a bit of a tougher time in his quarterfinal match, ending No. 5 seeded Marat Safin’s run as he beat the Russian, 3-6 6-3 6-2.

Gremelmayr , who will turn 27 next week and is actually a year older than Roddick, is currently ranked No. 89 in the world. He was born in Heidelberg but resides currently in Lampertheim. He has yet to win an ATP title and his career earnings are a meager $579,256, according to his ATP profile, as compared to Roddick’s $14,133,538.

Roddick’s buddy Mardy Fish will be vying for his 11th ATP final when he faces off against Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro, the No. 3 seed who beat American qualifier Amer Delic, 7-6 (6), 6-2 on Friday. Del Potro, just 19 and ranked No. 24 in the world, has been on a hot streak of late, winning 12 matches including title at Stuttgart and Kitzbühel. Fish downed Florent Serra of France, 6-4, 6-4.

In one doubles semifinal today Del Potro and partner Fabio Fognini of Italy will face India’s Rohan Bopanna and Eric Butorac of the U.S. In the evening doubles semifinal to follow the Roddick match, Igor Kunitsyn of Russia and Safin meet Travis Parrott of the U.S. and Serbia’s Dusan Vemic.

Bopanna and Butorac beat former Stanford partners and No. 2 seeds Scott Lipsky and David Martin, 6-4 6-4, while Parrott and Vemic got past Chris Haggard of South Africa and Australian Stephen Huss, 6-3 6-4.

Denis Gremelmayr – GER

John McEnroe – USA

Finally, in the legend’s final on Friday, Jim Courier got past a stubborn John McEnroe 7-5 7-6 (3).

The singles semifinals will be broadcast by the Tennis Channel at 1 p.m. match, with ESPN2 covering the 7:30 p.m. match. ESPN2 will begin and end its coverage from the Game Day desk that will be set up just East of the Straus Stadium Court. The finals will be contested on Sunday beginning at 2 p.m.

For questions or comments email Steve at steve@tennisnews.com

RESULTS – FRIDAY, AUGUST 08, 2008
SINGLES QUARTERFINALS
[1] Andy Roddick (USA) d Marc Gicquel (FRA) 6-3 6-1
[3] Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) d [Q] Amer Delic (USA) 7-6(6) 6-2
Denis Gremelmayr (GER) d [5] Marat Safin (RUS) 3-6 6-3 6-2
[6] Mardy Fish (USA) d Florent Serra (FRA) 6-4 6-4

DOUBLES QUARTERFINAL
Rohan Bopanna (IND) / Eric Butorac (USA) d [2] Scott Lipsky (USA) / David Martin (USA) 6-4 6-4
Travis Parrott (USA) / Dusan Vemic (SRB) d Chris Haggard (RSA) / Stephen Huss (AUS) 6-3 6-4

LEGENDS FINAL
Jim Courier d John McEnroe 7-5 7-6(3)