Pavel halts Roddick charge

Pavel managed to cope with Roddick's serve

Romania's Andrei Pavel drew on all his experience to bring American teenager Andy Roddick's run to a halt in the Montreal Masters.

Roddick had knocked out number one seed Gustavo Kuerten in the previous round, but it was Pavel who moved into the last four after a 6-4 6-7 6-3 win.

Pavel said: "I was nervous trying to return his serve because it's so strong - you must concentrate all the time.

"You cannot miss any chances and you must play well off the ground.

"I'm feeling pretty happy right now."

Pavel won the first set but Roddick claimed the second on a tie-break to take the match into a decider.

Roddick's serve has quickly become one of the most feared on the circuit, but Pavel broke the 18-year-old to lead 4-2.

I'm playing better now than at the start of the week

  Tommy Haas

Games then went with serve, and Pavel cllinched victory with a pair of aces to secure a semi-final berth.

The Romanian will play either Germany's Tommy Haas who reached his second semi-final in as many weeks when he beat Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-2 6-4.

"I'm playing better now than at the start of the week," said Haas.

"But sometimes I'm not feeling the ball at all, I still make unforced errors.

"But I try to block them out during the match, that's the way to make great shots."

In the third of the quarter-finals, Wimbledon finalist Patrick Rafter played some inspired tennis to beat Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in three hard sets.

The Australian triumphed 7-5 4-6 6-2 in a gruelling battle which saw both men produce some inspired tennis.

My groundstrokes were really good tonight and I hope it'll be the same in the semifinals

  Pat Rafter

But Rafter's greater versatility, which saw him play from the baseline as well as the net, saw him through.

The ninth seed will now face France's Fabrice Santoro, a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 winner over Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic.

"My groundstrokes were really good tonight and I hope it'll be the same in the semifinals," said Rafter, the 1998 winner in Toronto.

"Juan Carlos is a great player. He's starting to believe he can play on fast courts and that makes it dangerous for everybody else."