Grosjean powers past Moya

John Brock

Sebastien Grosjean, once told by French tennis officials that he was too small to make the grade, stood tall at the Australian Open on Wednesday after overpowering former French Open champion Carlos Moya to advance to the semi-finals.

Grosjean, the tournament's 16th seed, produced a near-flawless first set to lay the foundations of a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 quarter-final win over Spaniard Moya in 98 minutes.

The victory lifted the 22-year-old from Marseille into the first Grand Slam semifinal of his career. His best effort in 12 major starts before arriving in Melbourne this year was making the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1998.

"I am very happy to be in the semifinals," Grosjean said afterwards. "Today was my best tennis for the week.

"I think I played a very great first set. I had many winners, I didn't miss a shot... I was surprised to win easily."

It was a dominating display from Grosjean, who said that seven years ago he was told by the French federation that he was too small.

Grosjean, who is now 1.75 metres tall, went on to win the French junior championship in 1995 and was the number one junior player in the world the next year.

Asked if he had suffered as a result of the assessment, he said: "I already had a reaction when I won the junior championship in France. But now I've forgotten it."

He said he had forgiven them. "It was seven years ago. I was 15."

Grosjean upset world number four Magnus Norman in the fourth round. He advanced when the Swede conceded when the umpire called a 'let' on match point after Grosjean had sent down what appeared to be an ace and thought he had won.

The Frenchman will now play either 15th seeded compatriot and good friend Arnaud Clement or fifth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia for a place in the final of the season-opening Grand Slam.

With the retractable roof on the Melbourne Park centre court closed for rain, Grosjean started strongly and was rarely troubled by former world number one and 1997 Australian Open runner-up Moya who is rebuilding his career after a debilitating back injury.

Grosjean made few errors as he raced through the opening set against a surprised Moya in 26 minutes.

The second was a closer affair, but he took a stranglehold on the match when he broke in the third game of the final set, doing so again in the seventh game and sealing the win when Moya hit a forehand return out.

"I think he played a great match. Maybe I haven't played my best but I have to give him credit, he played great," said Moya.

The Spaniard, who pulled off one of the upsets of the tournament when he beat Australian teenager Lleyton Hewitt in an epic third-round clash, said playing indoors probably suited Grosjean better but added he was beaten by the better man.

"Today I would say he was simply too much for me. If he keeps playing like this, he has a good chance to win here," he said.