It8217;s thumbs down for Moya

Moya cited the blistered thumb which he said had inhibited him last night against Vladimir Voltchkov who he beat in three gruelling sets. On Friday, Moya was blown off the court in the first by the seventh seeded Schuttler, and it was not long before the Spanish ace conceded the match.

Earlier, the affable Swede, Mikael Tillstrom, made his earliest exit from the tournament in three years, as the 103 ranked player went down 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, to eighth seeded John Van Lottum of the Netherlands in a quarterfinal match.

Lottum,after a wayward first set when he threw some tantrums by hurling his racquet about, settled down in the second and went on to play some solid tennis against the increasingly error-prone Tillstrom.

The Dutchman, 78 in the ATP computer rankings, will now take on Zimbabwe8217;s Byron Black in the semifinals on the morrow. The fourth seeded Black chalked up a fluent 6-4, 6-4 win over Richard Fromberg of Australia on an outside court.

Tillstrom, for whom Chennai holds a special place as he won the title here in 1997 and made it to the final last year before going down to Patrick Rafter, could not sustain the early momentum when he had Van Lottum at sixes and sevens. Serving well and hitting deep, Tillstrom unleashed a series of devastating shots. Van Lottum was all at sea and allowed his ill-temper to get the better of him to lose the first set in a jiffy.

However, in the next two sets, it was mostly Van Lottum who dictated the flow of the match. Aided by solid groundstrokes, the Dutchman kept Tillstrom,conqueror of World No.10 Karol Kucera in the previous round, pinned to the backcourt and with the Swede committing unforced errors by the bagful, it was only a matter of time before Van Lottum, born in Madagascar but settled in Eindhoven, closed the match.

Two breaks of serve in the fifth and fifth games, provided Tillstrom just the insurance needed against Van Lottum8217;s fightback as the Swede, despite dropping serve in the sixth, hung on to take the set.

The second set had a similar start with Van Lottum dropping serve in the first game. But, after surviving two breakpoints in the third, he came back strongly. Two breaks in the fourth and sixth games put him 4-2 ahead and provided the launch pad for his victory run. After taking the third at 6-3, Van Lottum stepped up the pace and service breaks in the first and third sufficed for the Dutchman to wrap up the set and match.

The only hiccup for Van Lottum in the third was in the eighth game when he was down 30-40 on serve, but escaped with two unforcederrors from Tillstrom to come through.

Meanwhile, the big-serving Peter Wessels of the Netherlands, blasted past Italy8217;s Vincenzo Santopadre 6-2, 6-4, in a battle between two unseeded players, to also enter the semifinals where he meets Schuttler.

Wessels, ranked 122, looked impressive with his huge serves which he frequently followed to the net where his volleying had a touch of assurance about it. In fact, the left-handed Santopadre No.113, who had taken out fifth seeded Andrew Ilie of Australia last night, looked hopelessly out of depth against the Dutchman.

Late last night, Wessels had beaten Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, in the pre-quarterfinals.

Other results: Doubles quarterfinals: Paul Goldstein/Jonathan Stark bt Ota Fukarek/Tuomas Ketola 6-1, 6-4.