Estoril Open 2005 News and Events

April 29, 2005

Top seed and former champion Carlos Moya cruised through to the semifinals of the Estoril Open after a straight sets victory over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. Moya, going for his second title at the Estadio Nacional after winning in 2000, took 1 hour, 16 minutes to record a 6-4, 6-2 win and reach his second semifinal of the season.

It was Moya's second victory over Mathieu this year having defeated the Frenchman in the quarterfinals in Chennai in January, when he went on to win the title (d. Srichaphan).

Moya has a 15-8 record in 2005 and he will now meet fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo for a place in the final.

Robredo, the No. 4 seed who received a wild card into the tournament, advanced to the semifinals for the second time in three years after a comprehensive 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italian veteran Davide Sanguinetti. Robredo, who also reached the quarterfinals in Estoril last year, took just 53 minutes to reach his second semifinal of the season after his run to the last four in Dubai (l. to Ljubicic).

In the bottom half of the draw, second seed Gaston Gaudio continued his impressive clay court form with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 8 seed Feliciano Lopez. Gaudio, who won back-to-back titles on clay earlier this year in Vina del Mar and Buenos Aires, is through to his first semifinal in Estoril in his third appearance in the tournament. Gaudio now has an 18-3 record on clay this year and is 23-7 overall in 2005.

The Argentine, who began the week in eighth position in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race, will now meet Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez for a place in the final. Garcia-Lopez, the 21-year-old from Albacete, moved through to his second ATP semifinal of the season with a hard-fought 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over lucky loser Juan Antonio Marin.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:
Moya: "[Mathieu is] a player who has given me a lot of trouble in the past. He defeated me in the Davis Cup but today I came into the match with a lot more confidence than when we played in Davis Cup. The fact that I defeated Mantilla and Ferrero this week gave me a lot of confidence and I was in a winning frame of mind. Today, without doing anything special, it looks like I was pretty confident on the court and these are the victories that give you a lot of confidence.

"I've won three good matches so far this week. I still can't say I'm playing my best tennis, but more and more it looks like I'm playing like I want to play."

On playing Robredo: "I've defeated him four times without losing a set. He's a very complete player, but it looks like his game suits mine very well and maybe he doesn't like my game. But tomorrow is a semifinal and when you reach that stage all players are playing well."

Gaudio: "I'm really happy about the result today. Although the result was easy, the match wasn't easy. I played much better today than I had throughout the week. I think maybe Feliciano [Lopez] didn't serve as good as he usually does and that's why he struggled a bit, but today the match went my way and I'm really happy.

"I don't know Garcia-Lopez that well. I've only seen him once at the Australian Open and he beat Carlos Moya, so I know he's going to be tough on clay. When you reach the semifinals of a tournament like this, all the opponents are tough. Anyone can win. But I hope to play like I did today."

Garcia-Lopez: "It was a very difficult match. Juan Antonio [Marin] fought for every ball and ran down everything, so it was a very intense match. I played well in the first set but then things got a little bit tricky. In the third set, I calmed down and I was able to win.

"Today was a really hard day and I really felt tired at the end of the match. But overall I'm feeling great and I will be ready for tomorrow."

On playing Gaudio: "He's the Roland Garros champion and will be the favorite. But I will go into the match as the underdog and I'll just go out there and enjoy it and try to remain calm."