PARIS, Nov 2: Yevgeny Kafelnikov reached his sixth semifinal in seven tournaments on Friday when he outclassed Czech Jiri Novak 6-3 6-3 to reach the last four of the Paris Masters Series.

The Russian — as fourth seed the highest-ranked player still in the tournament — looks favourite to win the $2.95 million Parisian tournament, but will have to overcome a Masters Series jinx to succeed.

The former French and Australian Open champion lost four finals in the world’s top nine tournaments outside the Grand Slams and the Masters Cup — he was beaten by Andrei Medvedev in Hamburg in 1994, by Thomas Enqvist in 1996 at Bercy, by Richard Krajicek in Stuttgart in 1998 and by Thomas Johansson in Montreal in 1999.

The fourth-seeded Russian tops the bill after the exits of Gustavo Kuerten, Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Carlo Ferrero early on, and he needed just 70 minutes to dismiss Novak, who had posted convincing wins over Swiss Roger Federer and Frenchman Julien Boutter in the previous rounds.

In the semis the Russian will meet Swede Andreas Vinciguerra, who had to wait for his 6th match point to beat Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 2-6 7-6 7-6.

Vinciguerra, who already made it to the semifinals of a Masters Series tournament in Rome this season, led 5-0 in the last set but let Schalken back into a jittery match before finishing him off in two hours and 20 minutes.

On his current form, Kafelnikov looks too strong for Vinciguerra, but he refused to be tipped the tournament favourite.

Quarterfinals results:

Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus x4) bt Jiri Novak (Cze) 6-3, 6-3; Andreas Vinciguerra (Swe) bt Sjeng Schalken (Ned) 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (8/6).