ESTORIL, Portugal, 30 April 2005 — Carlos Moya clocked a second victory this season over Paul-Henri Mathieu, defeating the Frenchman 6-4, 6-2 yesterday to reach the semifinals of the 532,000 euro Estoril Open.
Victory on the clay of Estadio Nacional may be a good omen for the Spaniard, who also beat Mathieu en route to his only title of 2005, at Chennai in early January.
Moya feels his form is improving after a slow start on his favoured clay surface this spring, with a first-round defeat in Mote Carlo putting him off on the wrong foot.
But that kind of bad memory is fading for the 28-year-old with 18 career trophies including the 1998 crown at Roland Garros.
Today, Moya’s opponent will be fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo who stopped Italian veteran Davide Sanguinetti 6-2, 6-2.
The second semifinal will be contested between French Open defending champion Gaston Gaudio and the third Spaniard in the final four, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Gaudio seeded second, played what he called his best match of the week in overcoming Spain’s eighth seed Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-2; Garcia-Lopez beat Juan Antonio Marin of Costa Rica 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.
In the women’s draw, Russia’s Dinara Safina will bid to get past the semifinal here for the first time today when she faces China’s Na Li.
Safina, still struggling to find her clay-court comfort zone, defeated American Jill Craybas 6-4, 6-2 to book her second appearance in the round of four. Na easily handled sixth seeded Dally Randriantefy of Madagascar 6-3, 6-1. Third-seeded Gisela Dulko reached the semis with a defeat of China’s ninth-seeded Jie Zheng 6-2, 6-1. She will play Czech Lucie Safarova, who put out Mariana Diaz-Oliva of Argentina 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
Tie-Break Expert Haas Reaches Munich Semis
In Munich, Germany, German fourth seed Tommy Haas surged into the semifinals of the 323,250 euro ($419,754) BMW Open with a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) win over Australian veteran Wayne Arthurs here yesterday.
At 6-6 the first set was decided by a tie-break and Arthurs looked in control at 4-1 up but Haas produced some devastating ground strokes to win 8-6. Fifth seeded Romanian Andrei Pavel will face Haas after beating Dutchman Raemon Sluiter 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in his quarterfinal match. Argentina’s No. 1 seed David Nalbandian is the favorite to win the competition after cruising into the last four with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over compatriot Juan Monaco.
Nieminen came out on top against Slovakian Michal Mertinak 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 and will hope to go one better than in 2003 when Swiss ace Roger Federer beat him in the final.
Henin-Hardenne and Clijsters on Warsaw Collision Course
In Warsaw, Belgians Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters stayed on course for a Warsaw title showdown after both came through their quarterfinal clashes yesterday.
Henin-Hardenne needed just 61 minutes to sweep aside fourth seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland to earn a place in the semifinals.
Her 6-1, 6-2 victory lined her up against unseeded Ana Ivanovic, who continued her impressive season by defeating sixth seed Nathalie Dechy of France 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.
Kuznetsova overpowered Silvia Farina Elia 6-3, 6-4 while Clijsters struggled with both a sore shoulder and an persistent opponent before seeing off fifth seeded Russian Elena Bovina 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
