Gonzalez battles into last four in Santiago
Date published :
06 Feb 2010 - 05:28:40
Top seed Fernando Gonzalez came through two lengthy tie-breaks against Marcel Granollers to reach the semi-finals of the Movistar Open in Santiago.
The hometown player triumphed after a topsy-turvy two-and-a-quarter hours which saw each player break serve three times.
Four of those six breaks came in the first set, which Gonzalez took 10-8 in the breaker - and the second was even more closely fought, the Chilean holding his nerve once more to complete a 7-6 (10/8) 7-6 (11/9) win.
He will play third seed Thomaz Bellucci, who came through his clash with Argentina's Eduardo Schwank in much more comfortable fashion.
The Brazilian broke twice and did not face a single break point himself as he won 6-4 6-4 in one hour and 17 minutes.
Second seed Juan Monaco was pushed to three sets by Australian qualifier Peter Luczak before reaching the last four.
Three breaks were enough for the Argentinian to win the near two-hour clash 6-4 3-6 6-3.
Joao Souza completes the semi-final line-up after hammering Spain's Alberto Martin 6-2 6-4 to set up a clash with Monaco.
