Kuerten closes on Kafelnikov

Gustavo Kuerten must now be one of the favourites

(5) G Kuerten (Bra) bt (4) Y Kafelnikov (Rus) 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

Comeback king Yevgeny Kafelnikov battled to five sets yet again, but his tenacious form deserted him in the decider to hand a semi-final place to Gustavo Kuerten.

It was a riveting, ding-dong battle that saw the advantage shift with virtually every game before Kuerten moved in for the kill with a series of blistering passing shots and intelligent groundstrokes.

At 2-4 down in the fourth set it was a tough situation to come through

Gustavo Kuerten

Kafelnikov, the 1996 champion, looked to have the match sewn up in the fourth set when he was two sets and a break up, and finding all of his shots.

But the popular 23-year-old Brazilian suddenly discovered the inspiration that has made him such a fierce proposition on clay this year and helped him to the title in 1997.

He broke back and broke again to steal the set from under the nose of the fourth seed.

Momentum appeared to have swung behind Kuerten when he immediately broke Kafelnikov in the fifth.

But the Russian recovered with a break of his own before suffering two successive breaks to hand a match-winning game to the Brazilian.

Not even a lucky net chord could help him as Kuerten carved out a match point, then converted it when his opponent's return wandered wide.

Kuerten now faces the winner of the all Spanish last-eight clash between 10th-seeded former finalist Alex Corretja and 16th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.

"At 2-4 down in the fourth set it was a tough situation to come through," Kuerten said.

"It was a tough match. He was playing deep and hit a lot of lines, but I kept fighting."