After the way he dismantled crowd favourite and former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals, Rainer Schuettler sure had the momentum with him. Though ranked 75 places below his opponent Olivier Rochus on 141, the German surely looked the best bet to come through.

Coming into the semifinal clash after playing just five games against Nicolas Kiefer, who withdrew with gastroenteritis the previous day, Rochus might have been little short on match play. And the way Schuettler began, it appeared the German just continued from where he left off.

He raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set and looked as formidable as he was against Hewitt the other day. But for some strange reason, Schuettler lost the plot as quickly. What happened after the first three games took everyone by surprise, except probably Rochus.

The Pocket Dynamo from Belgium, though a trifle slow to start with, made a splendid comeback to force a 6-4, 6-4 verdict in a baseline battle over the German in the semifinals of the $416,000 Kingfisher Open ATP Tour event at the CCI courts on Saturday.

In the title clash, Rochus takes on top-seeded Richard Gasquet, who outclassed friend and countryman Fabrice Santoro 6-0, 6-3 in the other semifinals later in the evening. Gasquet, nicknamed 'Baby Federer', for having a game like the big man himself, was just too good for Santoro on the day.

The 21-year-old world No 14 just breezed through the opening set without breaking sweat. He showcased his array of strokes, especially the single-handed backhand, a la Federer, besides his huge serves.

Santoro, known as 'The Magician', just didn't have any tricks in his bag. He struggled to come up anything noteworthy, but did make a fist of it in the second set. But Gasquet got the crucial break in the fourth game to wrap up the match in a mere 58 minutes.

Earlier, though not out of contention in the first three games, Rochus was unlucky to drop his serve in the second game and missed two break opportunities in the third. For Schuettler, the match was a replay of his quarterfinal tie against Hewitt, only the script didn't quite go the same way. The German committed the same mistakes Hewitt did against him the other day.

Rather, Rochus did exactly what the German did on Friday. The Belgian made some unbelievable returns and with wheels for feet, chased down balls with amazing alacrity. With Schuettler struggling to get his first serves in for the good part of the one-hour, 48-minute energy-sapping encounter, Rochus never had to face any thunderbolts that the German unleashed against Hewitt.

Besides, the 141st-ranked Schuettler committed far too many errors to seriously test the eighth-seeded Rochus, especially during the big points. If he found the corners yesterday, Schuettler repeatedly found the net or hit long and wide on the day.

Riding on his largesse, besides his own brilliance from the back of the court, Rochus broke the German in the fifth game and again in the seventh to take the opening set. A break in the first game of the second set was enough for Rochus, the shortest player on the Tour at 5'5'', to close out the match.

Bopanna-Qureshi in final
Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi pair stormed into the doubles final with a facile 6-2, 6-3 win over Lars Burgsmuller and Olivier Rochus.

Results (semifinals):
Singles: Olivier Rochus (Bel) bt Rainer Schuettler (Ger) 6-4, 6-4; Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Fabrice Santoro (Fra) 6-0, 6-3.
Doubles: Robert Lindstedt (Swe)/ Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Boris Pashanski/ Viktor Troicki (SRB) 6-1, 7-5; Rohan Bopanna ( Ind)/ Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Olivier Rochus (Bel)/ Lars Burgsmuller (Ger) 6-2, 6-3.