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February 16, 2001 6:51
PM MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) -- Second seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeated fifth seed Cedric Pioline of France 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 on Friday to reach the $500,000 Marseille Open semifinals. Russia's Olympic champion will now face sixth seed Roger Federer of Switzerland. Federer scored a 6-4, 7-6 win over his unseeded compatriot Michel Kratochvil in a match that finished just before midnight. Kafelnikov lost to Federer two weeks ago in Milan -- a tournament the Swiss player went on to win. "I'm looking forward to my chance of revenge," the Russian said. Unseeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus defeated Frenchman Julien Boutter 6-2, 6-3 in his quarterfinal. Mirnyi,
who upset top seed Magnus Norman of Sweden in the second round, will now
play fourth-seeded Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean. The tall, powerful right-hander, previously regarded as a doubles expert, is seeking the first singles title of his career. He reached semifinals in Munich and Toulouse last year. Mirnyi had won only two of his five singles matches this year before Marseille, where he has now won three in succession. French Davis Cup star Grosjean -- semifinalist at Sydney and the Australian Open this year -- beat Karol Kucera of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3 in just 69 minutes in their quarterfinal. "I thought I played a really good match," Grosjean said. "I put a lot of pressure on his service because I knew he could be forced into errors when he's under pressure. "It'll
be a very difficult match against Mirnyi because
he's very much at home on this surface." |