No. 5 Tursunov, No. 7 Stepanek among Quarterfinal winners at Open de Moselle

The three remaining seeds entering play on Friday at the Open de Moselle advanced to the semifinals after winning their quarterfinal matches this afternoon in Metz, France. Also winning was French qualifier Adrian Mannarino, who continued his fairy tale tournament by winning his third straight match this week that is highlighted by his first career ATP level victory.

No. 7 Radek Stepanek (pictured) dug deep into his bag of tricks for a second straight match, winning a close three set battle, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, over Argentine Eduardo Schwank to advance to his fifth semifinal of the season. Both players were pretty even in the statistics department, as Stepanek fired six aces compared to Schwank’s five aces and both players were only able to break serve once, but Stepanek broke in the final set to give him the winning pass into the next round. Schwank falls to 14-13 on the season, but has to be pleased that he started the 2008 season ranked No. 171 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, but is currently ranked No. 54. The 29-year-old from the Czech Republic, who is playing in Metz for the first time in his career next meets No. 5 Dmitry Tursunov in the semifinals.

Tursunov easily took care of Spaniard Carlos Moya, 6-3, 6-3, in just over an hour. Moya was fresh off an upset victory over No. 1 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia. The California based Russian smashed nine aces, while losing only seven points on his first serve. Tursunov was also able to break serve on three occasions, while Moya could not break serve despite having four opportunities. Tursunov improves to 31-19 on the year and will be looking to win his first career match against Stepanek.

No. 4 Mathieu of France held off a strong effort from Serbian Janko Tipsarevic for a, 7-6(4), 6-3, victory. Both plays fired lots of aces, with the Frenchman smashing 12, while Tipsarevic hit 13. Mathieu got the better end of the bargain in the match though, as he got the only service break in the second set which ultimately sealed the victory for the hometown favorite.

"It was a very close match today. Two or three points decided the match," said Mathieu.

Mathieu improves to 28-23 on the year and next will try to end Mannarino’s inspiring tournament run. The young Frenchman upset Marc Gicquel, 6-4, 7-6(3), today in just over an hour and a half. Mannarino, who earned a spot in the main draw after winning enough matches in the qualifying tournament, is making just his second appearance in an ATP level event. The French qualifier, who is currently ranked No. 181, has won two Futures level tournaments this season.