It will be the first Grand Slam semi-final for Corretja. He joins his good friends Carlos Moya and Felix Mantilla in the final four.

Dewulf: "I played well"

Corretja will face either Frenchman, Cedric Pioline, or Hicham Arazi of Morocco.

"This is history," Corretja said. "I think it's really good, because normally it's not easy to have a country put three guys in the semis of a Grand Slam. We used to see the American guys in other tournaments, but not the Spanish guys."

Dewulf had not lost a set until Wednesday's loss to Corretja. The 39th-ranked Belgian usually has good luck at Roland Garros; last year he reached the semis, beating Corretja in the fourth round.

Corretja took time to find his bearings and it was Dewulf who broke in the third game to go 3-1 clear.

But Dewulf, who was suffering from a sore throat, then lost the thread at 5-3 and Corretja rattled off five straight games to win the first set and go 1-0 up in the second.

Games then went with serve until Corretja broke once more in the final game to effectively finish the tie.

"I tried to enjoy the tremendous atmosphere but by the third set I no longer believed in myself," Dewulf admitted. "I was more relaxed than last year when I played Kuerten, because I knew what it was all about from last time.

"I played well here generally but today I was beaten by a better player."