Corretja in semi after three days
Georges Homsi
Thursday, June 6, 2002

It took two-time finalist Alex Corretja three days to gain a berth
in the semifinals at Roland Garros. The Spaniard triumphed 7-6(5)
7-5 7-5 over a distracted Andrei Pavel on Court Philippe Chatrier
early Thursday.

The quarterfinal, which had started on Tuesday afternoon and was
postponed due to rain on Wednesday, took a number of bizarre twists
and turns before the No18 seed posted a gallant victory to enter his
second consecutive Roland Garros semifinal.

During the first day of play, spectators were given a taste of what
was to come, when after 26 minutes, the score only stood at 1-1.
After one hour, 24 minutes, Corretja had captured the first set 7-5
in the tiebreaker. The rallies were interminable, brutal, and
extremely even, with both players looking ready to spend all day
and night on the court to gain a place in the last four.

After three hours, 12 minutes though, the merciless fight drew to a
temporary close, after bad light forced the suspension of play.
Corretja was leading two sets to love, and Pavel was up 5-4 in the
third. The Spaniard was due to serve when both players agreed with
supervisor Stefan Fransson that it was wiser to stop the match.

Corretja would have entered the dressing room Tuesday night lamenting
a spate of missed opportunities. The 2001 finalist had appeared to be
breezing towards victory in the third set after leading 3-1 and then
15-40 on Pavel's serve. But the Romanian No1 came back to draw even at
3-3, and a few minutes later, he saved a break point in the ninth game.

Wednesday's turn of events put a new spin onto the match. Storms that
descended onto Roland Garros prevented the dual resuming. But even if
the skies had cleared, Pavel would have been defaulted. The Romanian
had left Paris in the morning to drive 700km to a clinic near Bielefeld
in Germany, where his wife gave birth to their second child.

At 11am on Thursday when the match resumed, an exhausted Pavel conceded
three games in a row to hand Corretja the match.

Pavel, who had only slept three hours since Tuesday, was beaten but
happy. "It doesn't matter if I lost the match. I had a great day
yesterday and I'm happy to be going back home," he said.

Corretja was also thrilled. "Yesterday I would have won off the
court, but I'm more happy to be the winner on the court today,"
he said. "It wasn't easy for me because I knew the whole situation
with Pavel and I waited long hours in the locker room.

"But it was more difficult for him. And today, it was strange that
after five minutes of play I found myself serving for the match."

On Saturday Corretja will play against countryman and good friend
Albert Costa. It will be his third Roland Garros semifinal. Both
times before, Corretja has won the match, only to lose in the final.

"It's nice to be back to the semis. And if play Ferrero, I will have
a slight advantage of having been in that situation before."

Asked about his physical condition, Corretja replied: "Once you reach
the semis you have already played a lot of tennis. But I feel fresh
now, and I will have all day to rest. I think I will be ready tomorrow."