Top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero lived up to his billing as the future of Spanish tennis by beating good friend and compatriot Alberto Montanes 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the $765,000 Estoril Open today.
Ferrero, 11th in the season-long points race, earned a Saturday outing against either third seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia or Spanish compatriot Albert Portas.
"Alberto has won some very good matches which will help him," said Ferrero. "I'm very happy with my own form. I'm playing very well on the clay."
Felix Mantilla, who once had a top ten ranking before slipping down the ranks, won his 16th match in a row as he beat Austrian Markus Hipfl 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in their quarter-final at the Estadio Nacional.
In the last men's quarter-final, Romanian fifth seed Andrei Pavel was still duelling with number four seed Franco Squillari of Argentina.
AFP
