Reigning champion Gustavo Kuerten swept into the semi-finals of the French Open as he piled on the misery for Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
The Brazilian clay-court king had beaten Kafelnikov twice before in the quarter-finals of Roland Garros. Today he made it three in a row with a 6-1 3-6 7-6 6-4 triumph which saw the Brazilian step up a gear towards the form which has crowned him king of Roland Garros twice before. Kuerten breezed through the first set, but Kafelnikov, who won this title himself in 1996, blasted back in the second, breaking Kuerten in the fourth game and eventually taking the set on his fourth set point after two consecutive aces. The third saw Kuerten save five break points in the ninth game before the set went to a tie-break, which saw Kuerten slide into top gear to take control of the match.
The fourth set, however, saw the best tennis of the match, both players breaking serve in a see-saw tussle and in the fifth game one rasping running forehand by Kuerten clipped the line in such spectacular fashion that Kafelnikov dropped his racket and joined in the applause. The vital break, however, went Kuerten's way in the seventh game and with the packed centre court crowd screaming for him, the champion eventually closed out the match after two hours and 32 minutes with a spinning serve which Kafelnikov could only push into the net.
Kuerten will now meet Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, who displayed all his clay-court craft to earn a semi-final place. Ferrero eased past feisty Lleyton Hewitt 6-4 6-2 6-1 in a match full of ripping forehands and deft touches. It was a salutary tennis lesson for the Australian, who had been fined 1000 dollars yesterday for calling the umpire a "spastic" during his fourth round match with Argentinian Guillermo Canas.
Filed by Pat Nugent
