BCR OPEN ROMANIA

Defending Champion Simon, Gasquet, Moya Into SFs

Second seed Gilles Simon continued the defense of his BCR Open Romania title with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over French compatriot Florent Serra on Friday for a place in the semifinals. The 23-year-old, who is enjoying a career-best season, has now beaten Serra three times since the pair’s first meeting in March 2006 at ATP Masters Series Miami. Simon was in devastating form during the first set, winning 16 of 17 points on the Serra serve that included four service breaks.
The World No. 17 improved to 38-20 on the season (10-6 on clay courts). Shortly after reaching his first career ATP Masters Series semifinal at Toronto (d. No. 1 Federer in 2nd RD, l. to Kiefer); he reached a career-high No. 13 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings in August. Simon also claimed titles on clay at Casablanca (d. Benneteau) and on hard-court at Indianapolis (d. Tursunov). The 27 year old Serra who was appearing in his fourth ATP quarterfinal (or better) dropped to 19-20 in 2008.
Simon will next take a 3-0 advantage into his semifinal against Jose Acasuso, the No. 6 seed, after the Argentine knocked out Spaniard Ivan Navarro 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 41 minutes. Acasuso captured the 2004 title (d. Andreev) and finished runner-up in 2002 (l. to Ferrer). The 25-year-old last reached an ATP semifinal in February when he finished runner-up at Buenos Aires (l. to Nalbandian) and the following week reached the Acapulco semifinals (l. to Almagro).
Top-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet (pictured) booked a place in his second ATP semifinal this year after knocking out Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-1. The match was suspended due to rain with Gasquet about to serve with a 1-0 lead in the first set tie-break, after 43 minutes of play.
Gasquet hit eight aces, won 71 per cent of service points and converted six of eight break point opportunities. The 23-year-old, who finished runner-up in Stuttgart (l. to del Potro) in July, improved to 26-17 on the season (7-4 on clay courts). World No. 97 Gabashvili dropped to 11-10 on the year.
Gasquet will now hope to snap a two-match losing streak against Carlos Moya, the No. 6 seed from Palma de Mallorca. The Spaniard, who first competed at Bucharest in 1996 when he reached the final (l. to Berasategui), advanced to his first ATP semifinal since February 2008 after beating compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 35 minutes. The former World No. 1 struck 10 aces, won 73 per cent of service points and broke serve two times from six opportunities.
Moya, who has now won three successive clay-court clashes against World No. 64 Garcia-Lopez, will attempt to reach the 44th ATP final of his career with victory in the semifinals on Saturday. Last year, the 32-year-old won an ATP title for an eight consecutive season at the clay court tournament at Umag (d. Pavel). In 2008, Moya has a 23-19 record on the season (12-10 on clay) highlighted by a run to the Costa do Saupe final (l. to Almagro).