Jan 05: Former world number one and two-times Chennai Open champion Spain's Carlos Moya moved into the semi-final with a convincing 6-3 6-4 victory over unseeded Frenchman Florent Serra, where he will face the challenge of his compatriot and World number two Rafael Nadal, who overpowered fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez with a 6-3 6-2 win in a long rain interrupted quarter-final match played at the SDAT stadium here on Friday.
Fourth seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny dashed the hopes of defending champion Xavier Malisse after posting a comfortable straight set 6-4, 6-4 victory against the unseeded Belgian.
Youzhny will fight it out with young Marin Cilic of Croatia , who rallied to beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 4-6 6-2 6-3 in a challenge between two unseeded players to complete the semifinal line-up.
Moya was producing a cross-court zipper against Serra's response. Serra had strokes in his kitty but he was lacking firepower. Serra couldn't match Moya in speed also, as veteran was too quick and moreover his spinning forehands were too difficult to negotiate since it had too much spin on it.
Moya's first serves were creating difficulties for the opponent, as Moya also looked more in control of the rallies. The 31-year-old Moya got a break in the fourth game, after which close games led the end of the set.
Serra tried his hard against the experience of Moya but he faltered in his finishing. Moya was too strong from the baseline, and had the experience to deal with the World No. 92.
"It is going to be a really tough match against Nadal but I have nothing to lose," said Moya after his quarter-final victory.
Nadal, who lost in last year's semis, was 2-1 up in his match when rain downpoured and play got affected for almost three and a half hours.
On resumption, Nadal encashed the errors made by Garcia-Lopez. The left-hander broke serve in the eighth game to take the first set and sprinted through the second set with breaks of serve in the fifth and seventh games before serving out for the match Friday midnight.
RESULTS
Singles (Quarterfinals): Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Florent Serra (Fra) 6-3, 6-4. Second round: Robin Haase (Ned) bt Lovro Zovko (Cro) 6-1, 7-5.
Doubles (Second round): Harel Levy (Isr) & Rajeev Ram (US) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) & Jim Thomas (US) 3-6, 6-3, 10-6.
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