After upsetting No. 2 seed Carlos Moya, Wild Card Mariano Puerta confirmed his impressive form with another thriller against Felix Mantilla 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5). Puerta will now face the winner of Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Canas. With the win, Puerta continues his steep climb in the rankings after having reached the final in ATP Buenos Aires.
Albert Montanes also advanced to the semifinals by upsetting No. 6 seed Filippo Volandri 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. With the win, Montanes is now 3-4 this year and advanced to his first ATP semifinal of 2005. He will now face 2003 event winner Agustin Calleri, who posted a 7-5, 6-1 upset win over No. 5 seed Jiri Novak.
In the last match of the day, No. 8 seed Nadal posted a great win over No. 3 seed Guillermo Canas with a 7-5, 6-3 final scoreline. Both players held serve consistently until 6-5 in the first set. Where Nadal won three consecutive points to break Canas's serve and take the first set. From then on, the 18-year-old Malllorca-native hold on to the lead and broke once again in the second set to close the victory.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:
Calleri: "It was a very difficult match since we know he is a tough player. My strategy was to move him around since I know that is tough for him. I think he arrived a bit tired in the second set and that's why the result like this."
"Tomorrow it is going to be difficult since Montanes is the typical Spanish player that returns every ball and moves really well. I know it will be difficult but I have the extra motivation in this tournament since it would be a dream to play the final again here in Acapulco and why not dream about the second title here in this great event."
Puerta: "Felix is a player that defends really well. I was not 100% today so I had to take a lot of risks that I am not used to. I was lucky that everything went well since I was hitting the balls close to the line. Mantilla played very well and that last set was really something to see. I was a bit tired from yesterday since I finished quite late against Moya. I was also very excited about it since it is the second time I beat him in 10 days and that's not easy."
"I feel very comfortable here. The court and the balls are a great combination for my game. A lot tomorrow will depend on how I feel physically tomorrow. We will see what happens"
Nadal: "It has been a great match. I knew I had to play my best since it was a very complicated match. I started very focussed, playing to his backhand going forward as soon as I could. I was very solid and consistent during the whole match."
"The intensity of the first set was amazing. I am very happy with my level today, much better than the previous 2 matches. Tomorrow it will be a very difficult match against Puerta. He played the final in Buenos Aires and he is already here on semis, that means he is playing very well. When a player makes these results that means he is playing great."
"It would be very important for me to play a second consecutive final, specially since I would gain a lot of points that would be very important for my ranking and the upcoming clay court swing that is very important to me"
Canas: "He played well the important points, I had 2 or three good ones but I did not take that chance and this sport is like this, you have to win those points."
"I knew it was going to be a difficult match, and I knew he was with a lot of confidence. He is a great player a very good player and he took his chances"
SEMIFINAL PREVIEW:
In the first semifinal match of the day, Albert Montanes will take a 1-0 lead over Calleri. In their only encounter, Montanes won 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 in the quarterfinals of Barcelona last year.
Montanes has won three straight matches against in Acapulco after having lost in four consecutive first rounds this year. (Australian Open, Vina del mar, Buenos Aires, Costa du Sauipe. Holding a 6-3 record in the this tournament, Montanes will try to improve on his semifinal performance in 2002 (l. to Moya)
Calleri has won all three matches in straight sets this week This is Calleri's best result so far this year after reaching the quarterfinals in Vina del mar (l. to Ferrer) and Costa du Sauipe (l. to Nadal). He holds a solid 8-1 record (d. Zabaleta in 2003 final) in his third appearance in Acapulco.
Argentine Mariano Puerta is now 10-2 in the tournament and will be playing in his second semifinal of the year against No. 8 seed Rafael Nadal. The series is tied 1-1 with Nadal winning the last time in the second round of Umag 2003 6-2, 6-4. 2000 finalist in Acapulco went on to reach the final in Buenos Aires before losing to fellow Argentine Gaston Gaudio. He is currently No. 42 in the INDESIT ATP Race 2005 with an 8-3 record.
Nadal comes off a strong week in which his second career ATP title in Costa du Sauipe (d. Martin in final). He holds a 15-4 record this year having reached the fourth round of the Australian Open (l. to Hewitt), quarterfinals in Doha (l. to Ljubicic), and ATP Buenos Aires (l. to Gaudio). He is currently No. 7 in the INDESIT ATP Race 2005.
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