Gaudio will meet Robredo
ByReuters
Published 01/05/2004 at 15:11 GMT
Former Barcelona Open champion Gaston Gaudio earned a second run at the title on Saturday with a 6-3 6-4 semi-final win over Spanish wildcard Albert Montanes. The Argentine number 13th seed will face Spaniard Tommy Robredo, who saw off Belgian qualifier K
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Gaudio, who won the tournament in 2002, broke Montanes's serve in the fifth game and pulled ahead to easily claim the first set.
He looked on course for a relaxed victory when he went 5-2 up in the second set but a newly inspired Montanes, who knocked out former French Open winner Albert Costa in the first round, broke the Argentine's serve twice to revive his chances.
But at 5-4 down and serving to level the set, the Spaniard lost concentration and handed his opponent the match.
Robredo, playing in front of a home crowd on his 22nd birthday, sped to an assured 3-0 lead in the first set but then seemed unnerved by a bout of aggressive play from Vliegen, who managed to level the match at 4-4.
Vliegen's determination to seize the initiative, however, led him to several errors and the more relaxed Robredo was able to break away once more to claim the set.
The Spaniard continued to dominate the match and an apparently nervous Vliegen was unable to translate his fractured game into a real threat.
After once more going 3-0, the Belgian fought back to claim two games but could not consolidate his recovery and Robredo maintained his lead, clinching an easy victory when Vliegen sent the ball flying into the net on match point.
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