By Rusty Hall
crhall@star-telegram.com
IRVING -- Bjorn Phau has been playing professional tennis for a long time, but as his career winds down, the 32-year-old German is out having fun and enjoying himself.
He's been having a lot of fun this week at the Dallas Tennis Classic. And he's playing some of the best tennis of his career, including Friday's 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 4 seed Robin Haase of the Netherlands in the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger event at the Four Seasons Resort and Club.After winning the first set, the No. 113-ranked Phau rallied from 5-3 down in the second set to force a tiebreaker. He then jumped out to an early lead and held on to beat the 55th-ranked Haase.Phau has won ATP Challenger events this year in Heibronn, Germany, and Bergamo, Italy, after starting the year ranked No. 172."I'm 32 and for a tennis player, I'm in my last years of my career," said Phau, who reached a career-high No. 59 ranking in 2006. "I hope I can continue and get into the top 100 and play those big tournaments."Phau said the difference between his early years on the tour and now is that he's more relaxed."Before, I was maybe a little too motivated maybe, and that kept me from playing at the top, top level, "Phau said. "Right now, I'm relaxed, I enjoy traveling and I enjoy playing these tournaments."Phau will meet former No. 18 Igor Andreev of Russia in today's semifinals, which will be televised on KTXA/Ch. 21. Andreev defeated No. 8 seed Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.Earlier this year, the 24-year-old Lacko, who is ranked No. 69, played his way into the Australian Open as a qualifier before losing in the third round to No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal. Lacko also reached the finals in Zagreb, Croatia."Lukas is having a really good year," said Andreev, No. 107 and coming back from a knee injury. "He's had a couple of real good wins, so I'm really happy to go through to the semifinals. I'm really happy with the way I'm playing."In the other semifinal, former world No. 2 Tommy Haas of Germany will take on qualifier Frank Dancevic of Canada, who upset top seed Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5).Dancevic, ranked No. 175, was up a set and 4-1 in the second, but the 24th-ranked Cilic forced a tiebreaker. Dancevic won on his sixth match point, and fourth of the tiebreaker.Haas, a wild card who is ranked No 169 and coming back from a succession of injuries, defeated No. 73 Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-4, 6-4.
Rusty Hall, 817-390-7816Twitter: @RustyHall10s Looking for comments?
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