Moya hammered the third seed 6-1 2-6 6-2 6-4 in exactly two hours, denying Rios the opportunity to win his first Grand Slam title.

The left-hander Rios, Australian Open runner-up to Petr Korda, had been a dominant player this season and climbed to the world number one ranking before missing a couple of events with an elbow injury.

Impressive style

But he had returned to form in impressive style at Roland Garros before succumbing to Moya's two hour hammering.

Marcelo Rios loses a point in the two hour hammering

Moya will now play Felix Mantilla, who earlier beat 1995 champion Thomas Muster of Austria 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-3.

Mantilla, a clay-court specialist, overpowered an out-of-form former champion who had entered this year's event unseeded for the first time since 1992.

Muster dropped his opening service game, and his usually lethal groundstrokes lacked depth and penetration.

Stormy affair

In the opening rallies he was systematically running around his backhand. Mantilla had lost both of his previous matches against Muster.

Their last encounter in Rome three weeks ago was a stormy affair which ended in a three-set win for Muster and with the players refusing to shake hands.