VINA DEL MAR, Chile, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- For the third straight match,
top seed Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador rallied from a set down to
advance at the $400,000 BellSouth Open.
Lapentti fought back for a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) victory over
Flavio Saretta of Brazil on Friday, advancing to the semifinals
of the claycourt event.
Lapentti lost the first set in his opening match against Jacobo
Diaz and did so again Thursday against Ramon Delgado of
Paraguay.
It was the first meeting between Lapentti and Saretta, who made
it to the quarterfinals when seventh seed David Nalbandian of
Argentina was disqualified in the eighth game of the first set
for arguing with a linesman.
Lapentti is the only seed still alive in the tournament. His
foe Saturday will be hometown favorite Nicolas Massu, who posted
a 6-3, 6-4 win over Albert Montanes of Spain in Friday's final
quarterfinal.
Massu is trying to reach a semifinal for the first time since
advancing to the final at Adelaide, Australia in 2001.
Saturday's other semifinal will pit Chilean wild card Fernando
Gonzalez against qualifier Nicolas Coutelot of France.
Gonzalez eliminated doubles partner Jose Acasuso of Argentina,
6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Coutelot bounced Markus Hipfl of Austria, 6-2,
6-1.
Gonzalez moved to 2-0 all-time against the 19-year-old Acasuso.
Hipfl had eliminated sixth-seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina.
This event, which offers a top prize of $48,850, is the first
claycourt tournament of the season.
