Spanish armada sails to final port

There is an Iberian proverb which says: "Three Spaniards, four arguments." There were three Spaniards on the centre court of Roland Garros yesterday, but no arguments whatsoever.

Carlos Moya and Felix Mantilla are the best of friends anyway and, although they briefly suppressed their companionship for the sake of sport, they were all hugs and words of praise after Moya had won their match 5-7, 62, 6-4, 6-2 for a place in tomorrow's French Open men's final.

There Moya will meet another compatriot, Alex Corretja, the president of the ATP players' council and rated one of the nicest guys in the game, who defeated France's Cedric Pioline 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

This is the second all-Spanish final here in five years, Sergi Bruguera winning his second successive French Open title in 1994 with a win over Alberto Berasategui.

These were not semi-finals of huge drama. Poor Pioline was physically and mentally drained after two five-set matches against Morocco's Hicham Arazi and the young Russian Marat Safin, and never looked like beating Corretja once he had lost the first set.

The Spaniard had himself played a marathon third-round match against Hernan Gumy of Argentina, the longest recorded Grand Slam match at five hours 31 minutes, but his next two wins had been relatively quick.

He certainly looked by far the fresher, although it is never easy to tell how Pioline is feeling. Every time he shuffles on to court he gives the impression he has just walked 10 miles, but there was no doubting his weariness once he began to play.

The first game alone lasted eight minutes, and Pioline found himself broken in his second service game. The Frenchman knew in his heart that if he was to reach his first French Open final it had to be in straight sets.

Summoning up the last dregs of physical effort and mental fortitude, he hauled his way back into this first set but the errors kept spilling from his racket and Corretja, very much at home under a hot Parisian sun, took complete advantage.

Further opportunities came Pioline's way in the second set but once again the chances ran away like sand through his fingers. The home crowd did their best to lift their favourite, last year's beaten Wimbledon finalist, but it was no use. Both men called for ice to place on their scorching necks but the real chill was in Pioline's heart.

When Moya trailed 4-1 in the third set against Mantilla the omens did not look good for him either, but he suddenly began to press more urgently, notably on the forehand, and Mantilla wilted.

Moya came to prominence at the Australian Open last year when he reached the final, losing to Pete Sampras. Here he had a relatively easy ride through to the quarter-finals before defeating the favourite and number three seed, Marcelo Rios of Chile.

They have met three times before, Corretja winning twice, although Moya won in their most recent meeting in the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo, Moya going on to win the title. He will start the favourite tomorrow.