Sat Jul 12 19:17:54 2008

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Santoro, Amritraj to meet in Hall of Fame Tennis final

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Newport, RI (Sports Network) - Second-seeded and defending champion Fabrice Santoro and Indian wild card Prakash Amritraj each won their semifinal matches on Saturday and will meet in the final of the $385,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

The 35-year-old Santoro, who earned his 450th career victory, defeated Vincent Spadea 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 and is trying to become only the third repeat winner in the tournament's history, joining Bryan Shelton and Greg Rusedski. Santoro improved to 8-0 all-time at the event.

In the other semifinal matchup, Amritraj was victorious over seventh-seeded Canadian Frank Dancevic, taking the contest 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3.

Amritraj, 24, is the first Indian to reach a final on the ATP since Leander Paes claimed the 1998 Newport title and is just the second wild card to play in the final at Newport. He improved to 6-1 this season with the win.

Spadea and Dancevic each claimed $19,000 for their semifinal losses, with the tournament titlist collecting $64,000.