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MADRID, Oct 17: Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco recovered from a nervous start to beat French sixth seed Sebastien Grosjean 3-6 7-6 6-2 and reach the semifinals of the Madrid Masters on Friday.
Grosjean hardly put a foot wrong over the first two sets, serving to devastating effect and dominating the points with his accurate groundstrokes.
The Frenchman set up two break-points in game six of the second but he failed to convert and that save from El Aynaoui signalled a shift in momentum.
El Aynaoui went on to force a tiebreak and moved confidently into a 6-3 lead.
Grosjean saved those three set-points but, serving at 6-7, he missed a fourth as El Aynaoui stepped round to clatter a forehand winner.
Massu came through an exhausting quarterfinal with the Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-7 6-4 6-4.
Massu, who beat U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick in the third round on Thursday, clinched victory as Chela smacked a backhand long on the first match-point.
That shot brought an end to a gruelling clash between the two South Americans, lasting two hours 57 minutes.
Quarterfinal results: Nicolas Massu (Chile) beat Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-4 15-Younes El Aynaoui (Morocco) beat 6-Sebastien Grosjean (France) 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-2
Henin in semifinal
ZURICH: Second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne marched into the semifinals of the Swisscom Challenge on Friday with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Russian Vera Zvonareva.
The Belgian world number two moved a step closer to a final showdown with compatriot Kim Clijsters, the world number one and top seed, after a dominant display at the indoor Schluefweg stadium.
Henin will face another Russian, Nadia Petrova, in the semifinals after the world number 14 overturned her compatriot Elena Bovina in a comfortable 6-1 6-4 victory.
Seventh-seeded Zvonareva, the world number 12 who lost her only previous encounter with Henin-Hardenne in Berlin earlier this year, was undone by a series of blistering forehand winners.
In the first set, Henin-Hardenne wasted three break points when level at 3-3, but finally got the crucial break at the fourth attempt. The Belgian then saved a break point on her own serve when 5-4 up before going on to claim the set.
She immediately broke Zvonareva in the first game of the second set with one of a number of forehand winners and then held her serve despite strong resistance from her opponent.
Zvonareva handed Henin-Hardenne a second break and a 4-1 lead after a double-fault, but saved two match points when 5-1 down to keep the game alive.
Quarterfinals results: Nadia Petrova (RUS) bt Elena Bovina (RUS) 6-1, 6-4; Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL x2) bt Vera Zvonareva (RUS x7) 6-4, 6-2.—Reuters
