Estoril Open 2004 News and Events

Florian Mayer
© João Lagos Sports

German qualifier Florian Mayer continued his impressive form to reach his first ATP semifinal in just his third main draw. The 20-year-old from Bayreuth defeated Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-4, 6-3 to set up a semifinal meeting with fifth seed Juan Ignacio Chela, the Argentine who defeated Olivier Patience 6-3, 6-2.

"I didn't expect to be in the semifinals at the start of the week," said Mayer. "I was the No. 2 seed in the qualifying, so I expected to qualify for the main draw and maybe win one round but not to be in the semifinals. This is the biggest victory of my career, so I'm very happy."

Mayer, who qualified for his first main draw tournament at the Australian Open and became the only German to reach the second round after defeating Richard Gasquet, went on to win the Challenger title in Mexico City in March.

Having qualified in Estoril and recorded impressive wins over No. 7 seed Gaston Gaudio, Radek Stepanek and Hanescu to reach the last four, the German has now won 12 of his last 13 matches in all competitions.

"I think I have a chance against Chela, it's 50-50 tomorrow," said Mayer. "I have never played against him before, so it will be different for him because he doesn't know me. I think I have a good chance to beat him."

Meanwhile, Chela took just a minute longer than Mayer to advance to his second ATP semifinal of the season (Acapulco), taking 1 hour, 19 minutes to overcome Patience, the Frenchman playing in his first ATP quarterfinal.

"It's my first tournament on the [European] clay courts, so the fact that I'm in the semifinals is very important for the season," said Chela. "Today it was tough because it was very windy but I played more solid than he did and that's why I won. Against Mayer, it's going to be difficult. I saw him beat Gaudio in the first round. He serves well and returns well, so I will try to keep him at the baseline and make him move. I'm playing well, I'm confident and I'm eager to play."