Third-seeded Carlos Moya, firing only in fits and starts, hardly looked the player ranked No 17 in the world. But against Florent Serra, ranked 75 places below him, that effort was more than enough to carry the two-time champion into the semifinals of the Chennai Open here on Friday.

The former world No 1, playing at a relaxed pace and hardly worried about the impending rain, played the crucial points well to come through a 6-3, 6-4 victor over the Frenchman in the quarterfinals of the $436,000 ATP Tour event at the Nungambakkam Tennis stadium.

In a dream semifinal clash, Moya takes on his friend and protege Rafael Nadal of Spain. The top-seeded Nadal, after a slow start, got the better of countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets. In a match that was affected by rain, Nadal, leading 2-1 when the heavens opened up, returned after a three-and-a-half-hour stoppage to force a 6-3, 6-2 victory.

Unseasonal rains

Earlier, when Moya and Serra stepped on court 15 minutes past the 5.00 pm start, thanks to the unseasonal rains, it was the unseeded Frenchman who came out firing on all cylinders. He did let rip a couple of huge forehand winners and even had Moya cramped for space with fine returns to his body on a couple of occasions.
But the Spaniard looked unruffled. He didn't have to as the Frenchman, in his eagerness to unsettle the two-time champion early on, committed far too many unforced errors. Right through that phase, Moya was content on keeping the ball in play. And Serra did the rest.

“I didn't have any trouble,” Moya said after the 75-minute encounter. “I played the best match of the week,” he noted. Wonder if that comment was a warning of sorts to Nadal.

“I played very well, I had a lot of chances to break his serve,” Moya said. He had his chances alright, but never looked on top of the game. There were those sporadic winners, mostly the forehands. A brilliant crosscourt winner after running Serra ragged — flank to flank — had the crowd on its feet. But on the day, they were few and far between. Moya may not have minded that the winner's column remained relatively blank, but would have been happy with his percentage play. He grabbed the chances that came his way. He broke Serra's serve in the fourth game of the first set.

Moya had two set points in the eighth game, but Serra saved both, one with a huge serve and another with a fine drop volley. But Moya closed out the set in the next game. After a five-minute stoppage due to a drizzle, Moya went up a break straightaway on resumption.

The Spaniard had another chance in the third game, but the opening service game break was enough to wrap up the set and the match. Asked about his semifinal clash against world No 2 Nadal, Moya said: “It will be a really tough match for me. But I've nothing to lose.”

Garcia-Lopez too didn't have anything to lose too against Nadal. Baring one bad game in the eighth, he matched Nadal shot for shot right through the opening set. But the left-handed top seed upped his game in the second to come through with relative ease in the end.

Results (all quarterfinals):

Singles: Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Florent Serra (Fra) 6-3, 6-4; Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles: Harel Levy (Isr)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Igor Kunitysn (Rus)/ Jim Thomas (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 10-6; Marin Cilic (Cro)/ Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Jaroslav Levinsky (Cze)/ Michal Mertinak (Svk) 6-1, 7-5.