Gold medal favorite Carlos Moya of Spain crashed out in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Tennis men’s singles tournament on a stiflingly hot day yesterday when he lost in straight sets to Chile’s Nicolas Massu.
Moya, the highest ranked player after the departures of world top two Roger Federer of Switzerland and Andy Roddick of the United States, lost 2-6, 5-7 to the 10th seed who started the tournament by beating triple former French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil.
But women’s world No 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, who has spent most of the year battling a debilitating virus, overcame France’s Mary Pierce 6-4, 6-4 to set up a semifinal with French Open champion Anastasia Myskina.
The Russian third seed trounced Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-1, 6-2.
Henin-Hardenne broke Pierce once in each set to win in 1hr 10min.
Moya, who saved three match points to beat Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist in three hours in the first round, saved five match points before going down yesterday.
Massu now plays Taylor Dent of the United States who beat 18-year-old Czech Tomas Berdych, who bounced out Federer, 6-4, 6-1.
Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, the world No 20 who knocked out Roddick on Wednesday, beat eighth seed Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
He now plays Mardy Fish of the United States or Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, who were on court, and a South American final looks on the cards with Gonzalez and Massu the form players of this tournament.
French women’s second seed Amelie Mauresmo overcame stubborn Russian fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (7 5), 4-6, 6-2 and now plays Australia’s Alicia Molik for a place in the final.
Molik powered her way into the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Japan’s Ai Sugiyama. The Australian beat Mauresmo 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round in the San Diego tour event three weeks ago after losing to her in the Australian Open in January.
The 23rd-ranked Molik has now defeated three of the world’s top 15 players in the last three weeks.
She beat world No.2 Mauresmo in San Diego, opened her Olympic campaign with victory over sixth-ranked Elena Dementieva of Russia, the French Open finalist, and yesterday beat Sugiyama, currently the world No.13.
Olympic Light Goes Out on Indian Doubles
• India’s hopes of an Olympic tennis gold medal evaporated yesterday when Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi lost 6-2, 6-3 to Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler in the doubles semifinals. They have a chance of a medal in the bronze medal match.
The fifth-seeded Indians had already seen off world No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland teamed up with Yves Allegro, and world No. 2 Andy Roddick, paired with American college pal Mardy Fish, in previous rounds. They won the French Open and Wimbledon and reached the final of all four Grand Slams in 1999 and won their third Grand Slam tournament in 2001 at the French Open. But this was last chance for another title after compiling 23 titles from 32 finals. Paes won the singles bronze, as a wild card, at Atlanta in 1996.
