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Nalbandian breaks Kuerten's heart
David Nalbandian broke Brazilian hearts and secured a piece of history for Argentina on Wednesday when he beat Gustavo Kuerten.
Eighth seed David Nalbandian became the third Argentinian to reach the French Open semi-finals on Wednesday when he beat Brazil's triple champion Gustavo Kuerten 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).
Nalbandian, Wimbledon runner-up in 2002, will now take on countryman Gaston Gaudio for a place in the final while third seed Guillermo Coria will face Britain's Tim Henman.
The 3hr 07min quarter-final proved to be just one too many exertion for the 27-year-old Kuerten, who is still trying to recapture the sort of form which took him to the 1997, 2001 and 2002 titles here before a hip operation threatened to send his career into freefall.
But he had his chances in this match squandering four set points in the fourth set before going down to defeat after a tense tie-break where he had been just a point away from levelling the tie.
The players, whose countries clash in a soccer World Cup qualifier in Belo Horizonte later Wednesday, exchanged breaks in the first two games of the opening set but it was Nalbandian who was to dominate breaking serve on two more occasions to lead 5-2.
He took the set after 39 minutes with an ace, just as he had wrapped up the three sets he won in his fourth round victory against Russia's Marat Safin.
But spurred on by passionate support inside his beloved Philippe Chatrier court, Kuerten soon found his range and his artillery of whipped backhands, flat forehands and sweetly-timed drop shots was enough to level the match after 78 minutes.
To his credit, Nalbandian overcame losing his first service game of the third set to take a 4-1 lead.
Back came Kuerten to level at 4-4 before Nalbandian carved out a set point in the tenth game when the Brazilian hit a fraction long. A cross-court forehand, which left Kuerten scrambling, gave the Argentinian the edge again as he took the third set after exactly two hours.
Kuerten again broke in the opening game of the fourth set and held to lead 2-0 as his confident touch around the court returned, illustrated when he matched an equisite Nalbandian drop shot with one even more subtle to win the opening point of the ninth game.
He had a set point, which he couldn't convert, and then two more on his own serve which were valiantly saved by Nalbandian who broke to go 5-5.
But the Argentinian wasn't able to capitalise on his hard work handing the break straight back to Kuerten to lead 6-5 before fighting back to take the set to a tiebreak.
Kuerten struck first with a fierce, cross-court drive which left Nalbandian wrong-footed as the Brazilian took a 5-2 lead before his opponent rallied to 5-5.
Nalbandian saved another set point at 5-6 before he went to match point off a Kuerten netted return and clinched the tie and a place in the last four when Kuerten hit a return wide.
