Arantxa advances after marathon three-setter

Martinez, the second seed, ended Jana Nejedly’s string of upsets by pinning a 6-2 6-1 defeat on the unseeded Canadian who had upset fifth-seeded Austrian Barbara Schett and 12th-seeded American Lisa Raymond.

Top seed Mary Pierce of France powered home some big serves and held her errors to a minimum against error-prone 17-year-old Australian Jelena Dokic to advance to the semi-finals with a 6-3 6-1 victory.

Pioline in semis

MONTE CARLO: Frenchman Cedric Pioline, the oldest player left in the event, scored a straight set win over Slovakia’s Karol Kucera to storm into the semifinal of the $2.95 million Monte Carlo Masters Series tournament.

Pioline, the eighth seed, beat Kucera 6-2 6-4 in one hour, 30 minutes to earn a semifinal meeting with Morocco’s Karim Alami. The Moroccan beat Albert Costa of Spain, the 12th seed, 6-4 7-5, to leave Pioline as the only seed to make the last four.

Kucera’s compatriot Dominic Hrbaty earlier rallied to surprise ninth-seeded Alex Corretja 3-6 6-3 6-4 in a little over two hours to seal a meeting with another unseeded player Argentina’s Gaston Gaudio.

Gaudio, who has not won an ATP Tour title in five years as a professional, beat fast-rising Spanish star Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4 6-2 in his quarter-final. The win was a milestone for 21-year-old Gaudio, who made his first Masters Series semis. He equalled his career-best ATP Tour performance after also making the semis in Auckland and Santiago this year.

Ferrero, who is only 20, was given the ATP Tour Newcomer of the Year award earlier in the week and had made the last eight without dropping set — but he found the wild-haired Gaudio an altogether tougher proposition than his earlier opponents.

The Argentine trailed 3-4 in the first set before reeling off five straight games as he added the occasional serve-volley point to his baseline game. Gaudio held his serve throughout the match and maintained his record of not having dropped a set in the 64-draw tournament, which is the first major clay court event in the lead-up to the Roland Garros.

Corretja got off to a fast start against unseeded Hrbaty, taking a 4-0 lead as Hrbaty made a succession of unforced errors; spraying the ball wildly and easily winning the opening set. Hrbaty kept his nerve, however, and gradually took control of the match after being a set and a break down with the mixture of aggression and placement that has earned him the nickname “The Dominator”.

Hrbaty, one of the fittest players on the circuit, saved four break points at 3-4 behind in the deciding set and didn’t look back from that point on, taking three straight games for the victory.