MIAMI, March 29: Fifth seed Carlos Moya underlined his recent return to form by taming Thailand’s hard-hitting Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4 6-2 on Friday to reach the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open.

The Spaniard won the first semifinal of the $3.25 million hardcourt event in front of a near sell-out crowd and will now rise one place to number four in the world when the new rankings come out on Monday.

Moya, whose sole grand slam title triumph came at the 1998 French Open, has been enjoying a successful run since returning to the world’s top 10 in 2002 after a three-year absence following a stress fracture in his lower back.

His win over 13th seed Paradorn was his 18th singles victory this year and gives him the chance to add the biggest prize in tennis outside the four grand slams to the trophy he won in Buenos Aires in February.

Moya now plays second seed Andre Agassi or number nine Albert Costa, who meet in the second semifinal on Saturday.

Everything went right for Moya, who briefly held the world number one ranking in 1999, against Paradorn and he ended the 74-minute match having held his serve throughout.

He broke serve in the opening game when Paradorn sent a backhand wide, and fended off three break points in the following game.

Paradorn’s only other break point of the match came in the sixth game when he sent a backhand service return wide.

Moya was at the net for winners on several occasions, including an easy effort on his second match point.

Paradorn, voted the most improved player on the ATP Tour last year after a rise from 126 to 16 in the world rankings, thrilled spectators in his first appearance here with three-set wins over Todd Martin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

But he was disappointed at being unable to lift his game to those levels again on Friday.

Earlier, Agassi, seeking a record third successive title here, broke down the resistance of Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco in the third set of an absorbing 7-6 4-6 6-1 victory.

Spaniard Costa also took fewer than 13 minutes to complete a 7-6 4-6 7-6 triumph over fourth-seeded Swiss Roger Federer.

Results

Semifinal: Carlos Moya bt Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4 6-2;

Quarterfinals: Andre Agassi bt Younes El Aynaoui 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-1; Albert Costa bt Roger Federer 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-6 (9-7).—Reuters