BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Magnus Larsson faces countryman Thomas Johansson today.
(Ernest Coleman photo)
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MASON -- Their birthdays are a day apart. Their homes in Sweden are a few towns apart. Their rankings are one point apart. Today, only a net separates them.
The silent Swedes keep winning.
"We're very good friends," Thomas Johansson said, speaking of his ATP quarterfinal opponent today, Magnus Larsson. "It's tough to play a Swedish guy. I know his weaknesses, he knows my weaknesses.
"I'd much rather play some other guy."
Larsson says the same, yet neither will shy from the opportunity. In an odd bracket whose seeds were all dismissed after two rounds, the Swedes are grateful to be still standing, playing for a prestigious semifinal berth.
This is already the farthest Johansson, 23, has ever advanced in a Mercedes Super 9 or Grand Slam event. Larsson, 28, -peaked with a No. 10 ranking in 1995.
"Fridays weren't my day," Larsson said.
Larsson, ranked 37th in the world, beat Germany's Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-4 Thursday. Johansson, ranked 38th, ousted French qualifier Jerome Golmard 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2).
Today? "He's one (ranking) spot better than me," Johansson said. "So he's the favorite."
Both are classic vanilla Swedes: quiet, disciplined, emotionless. Larsson deviates with just one detail, yellow shoes.
"They're a bit flashy," he said. "But it's not like it's my personality. It just gives people something to ask about."
Larsson has been on the tour nine years and is in his seventh year in the Top 50. He has won six titles and helped lead Sweden to the 1997 Davis Cup title.
Johansson is the up-and-comer who broke through with two titles and a 13-match winning streak last year. But Larsson, who frequently practices with him, still calls him "the junior."
"Magnus, Jonas (Bjorkman) and I always go to dinner, play golf, talk a lot," Johansson said. "The Swedish are all friends."
Larsson won their only previous meeting in straight sets, on clay last year in Rome.
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