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| April 19, 2003 | Saturday | Safar 16, 1424 |
Ferrero, Moya on course for final
MONTE CARLO, April 18: Spain’s top two players, Juan-Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya, stayed on track for a repeat of last year’s final at the Monte Carlo Masters by achieving easy quarter-final victories on Friday.
Defending champion Ferrero outclassed compatriot Alberto Martin 6-0 6-2 in just over an hour while second-seeded Moya broke Frenchman Julien Boutter’s momentum with a 7-6 6-2 victory.
The two players who stand in the way of an all-Spain final are Guillermo Coria, who crushed fellow Argentine Juan-Ignacio Chela 6-1 6-1, and American Vince Spadea, who beat Italian qualifier Filippo Volandri 6-1 6-3.
Coria can at least claim to have spent the least time on court in a day of one-sided quarter-final matches, as it took him only 58 minutes to reach the last four.
Had he not relaxed a little towards the end of his match, Ferrero would have done just as well against qualifier Martin, who had to wait for the 11th game to hold serve at last in a 62-minute tennis lesson.
Moya had a much tougher time for 80 minutes against Boutter, who had won eight matches in succession after claiming his first career title in Casablanca last week.
The Spaniard broke the Frenchman early on in, but Boutter fought back to 4-4 and then forged ahead 6-5 30-0 before surrendering to Moya a decisive and disputed point.
Another controversial line call in the tie-break made the final difference and Moya quickly took control in the second set against an obviously exhausted opponent.
But the former French Open champion could be seriously tested on Saturday by Coria, who will be playing in his second semi-final in the principality after reaching the final four in 2001.
The former world number one, winner in Monaco in 1998, will also be seeking to avenge his young protege Rafael Nadal, who lost to Coria in the previous round.
Ferrero, meanwhile, will face unexpected opposition from Spadea, the first American for 11 years to reach the semi-finals in Monte Carlo. Aaron Kickstein made it to the final in 1992.
No American has won the tournament since Jimmy Connors and Argentine Guillermo Vilas had to share the laurels in a rain-interrupted final in 1981. The last American to win the tournament outright was H.W. Stewart in 1956.
But for Spadea, who slumped from 19th in the world to 229th between 1999 and 2000, the feat is more personal than patriotic.
Agassi climbed back from 141st in the world in 1997 to reclaim his standing as one of the greatest players of all time.
Results: (prefix number denotes seeding):
Quarterfinal: 2-Carlos Moya (Spain) beat Julien Boutter (France) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2; Guillermo Coria (Argentina) beat Juan-Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 6-1 6-1; 1-Juan-Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Alberto Martin (Spain) 6-0 6-2; Vince Spadea (U.S.) beat Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-1 6-3—Reuters
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