Tennis Roundup : Top-Seeded Mayotte Advances to Semifinals Against Witsken

Top-seeded Tim Mayotte surrendered only nine points on his serve Friday in a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Australian Simon Youl to gain the semifinals of the Sovran Bank tennis tournament in Washington.

Mayotte, ranked No. 11 in the world, won five of his nine service games at love in disposing of Youl in 74 minutes. He will next face Todd Witsken, a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 winner over Jim Grabb.

In the other semifinal, Richey Renebert will play Brad Gilbert. Renebert advanced with an easy 6-1, 6-1 victory over Ramesh Krishnam, while Gilbert struggled to a 6-7 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4 win over Paul Chamberlin.

Mayotte, who has not lost a set in three matches this week, had little difficulty against Youl, ranked No. 205. Mayotte, seeking his first tournament title of the year, did not allow a point on his serve until he had built a 5-2 lead in the first set. Youl used his only break of the match to pull within 5-3 but gave the game right back when he double-faulted on set point.

“Considering I was slow to break in the other matches, I made a point of getting out to a quick start today,” Mayotte said. “Anything can happen in the tiebreaker.”

In Schenectady, N.Y., second-seeded Halle Cioffi rallied to defeat Sandra Birch, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the $200,000 OTB International tournament.

In today’s semifinals, Cioffi will play Marianne Werdel, who advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Stacy Martin.

Top-seeded Gretchen Magers won her quarterfinal match over Ann Henricksson, 6-4, 6-3. Magers will play eighth-seeded Laura Gildemeister of Peru, who defeated Renata Baranski of Poland, 6-4, 6-4.