Unseeded Argentine Gaston Gaudio overpowered Australian 12th seed Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to advance to his first Grand Slam semi-final at the French Open in Paris today.
The 25-year-old totally outclassed the former Wimbledon and US Open champion who never succeeded in stamping his mark on the game which lasted 1hr 55min on a windy and chilly Philippe Chatrier Centre Court.
The former world number one hit 43 unforced errors, compared to Gaudio's 19, with five double faults and seven breaks of serve and was struggling from the outset against his clay court specialist opponent.
After twice breaking Hewitt in the first set which he took in 39 minutes, Gaudio broke immediately in the second rushing to a 4-0 lead. Hewitt held serve for 1-4, but could not match the power of the Argentinian who served out to love to wrap up the second set in 36 minutes.
The 23-year-old Australian fought back from 0-40 down on his serve in first game of third set to deuce but was broken again as he struggled to return a Gaudio drop shot which he hit into the net. Gaudio broked again for a 3-0 but after the Argentine receive treatment for a cut and bloodied knee following a fall, Hewitt came back to break serve to love and held to go 2-3.
But the fightback was short lived with Hewitt left shaking his fist in fury as a series of mishits allowed Gaudio to hold serve in the sixth game for a 4-2 advantage. In the seventh game Hewitt dropped his serve after handing Gaudio break point with a sloppy hit into the net, which the Argentian converted after another Hewitt blunder into the net.
And Gaudio did not hesitate taking the tie on his first match point when Hewitt hit long, to set up a meeting with compatriot David Nalbandian..
Nalbandian ended Gustavo Kuerten's dream of claiming a fourth French Open singles crowns with a commanding 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) win over the Brazilian.
The 3hr 07min quarter-final proved to be a bridge too far for the 27-year-old Kuerten, who is still trying to recapture the sort of form which took him to the 1997, 2001 and 2002 titles here before a hip operation threatened to send his career into a downward spirl.
The former Wimbledon runner-up, the third Argentine to reach the last four in the men's draw at Roland Garros this year, saved four set points in the fourth set before winning the tiebreak 8-6 to clinch victory in just over three hours.
Nalbandian, appearing in his first quarter-final at the French Open, began well, taking the first set in 40 minutes before Brazilian Kuerten hit back to level the match.
The eighth seed took the third set and saved four set points in the fourth, coming from 5-2 down in the tiebreak to clinch victory and set up a semi-final against Gaudio.
Filed by James Boylan
