Jonas Bjorkman and Patrick Rafter, two talented players who have shot into the top 10 late in the year, scored straight-set wins yesterday to set up a semi-final showdown at the $825,000 Stockholm Open.
Top seed Rafter, the US Open champion and world number three, eased his way out of danger as Tim Henman held early breakpoints in three service games and won 6-3, 6-3 in 71 minutes.
Bjorkman, fourth in the world after reaching the Paris Open final last weekend against Pete Sampras, was supported by a capacity crowd as he defeated Slovakian Karol Kucera 6-3, 6-2.
In the bottom half of the draw, Greg Rusedski advanced with a walkover when Swede Magnus Larsson fell victim to the same stomach virus which had sent Rusedski to bed for two days this week in between matches.
Dutchman Jan Siemerink, meanwhile, continued a late-season comeback as he knocked out Cedric Pioline 6-4, 6-2.
Frenchman Pioline, this year's losing Wimbledon finalist against Sampras, committed only two double-faults in the 59-minute rout - but both of them proved costly. He lost the first set on one, the match on the other. Siemerink faces Rusedski next.
Rafter and Bjorkman's semi-final will be a test ahead of next week's eightman ATP World Championship in Hanover. They are among six players - Sampras, Michael Chang, Rusedski and Spain's Carlos Moya are the others - to have qualified.
Four others - Thomas Muster, Sergi Bruguera, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marcelo Rios - are chasing the last two spots, which will be decided this weekend by tournament results in Stockholm, Moscow and Santiago.
Quarter-Finals (prefix number denotes seed): (1) P Rafter (Aus) bt (8) T Henman (Brit) 6-3 6-3; (2) G Rusedski (Brit) bt M Larsson (Swe) w/o; J Siemerink (Ned) bt C Pioline (Fra) 6-4, 6-2, (4) J Bjorkman (Swe) bt K Kucera (Svk) 6-3 6-2.
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