Haarhuis moves into semifinal

Dubai: Dutchman Paul Haarhuis dumped Frenchman Cedric Pioline 6-1, 3-6, 10-3 to book his place in the semifinal on the opening day of the Legends Rock Dubai on Thursday night.

In a match of contrasts, Haarhuis raised his game when it mattered most to win the super tie-break for an entry into the last four stage of the competition.

Pioline looked out of sorts in the opening set as he tried to keep up with Haarhuis's serves and pace on the returns.

Haarhuis went on to win the set easily 6-1.

But things changed in the second set as Pioline broke his opponent a couple of times to take the set and push the match into the deciding tie-breaker.

The Dutchman started strongly and with two aces he was soon cruising at 4-1 and then 6-2.

He never looked back as he went on to win the tie-break 10-3.

"It was a good game for me, but I think Cedric was struggling with the pace of the balls and the court," Haarhuis said.

"I had one good set and then I played strong in the tie-break and that was all that was needed to win the match," he added.

Though not looking his age, Pioline was satisfied with the way he played. "Paul played better and he capitalised on the good start he got," Pioline said.

Tough match

In the second quarterfinal in the lower half of the draw, former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash went down to Germany's Michael Stich.

Cash broke Stich in the second and fourth games to race to an early 5-0 lead in the first set and then take the set 6-1.

But in the second, the German enjoyed a 4-1 lead which was cut down to 5-4 by the Australian, who eventually handed the set to Stich to decide the match in the tie-break.

In the upper half of the draw, Jim Courier was scheduled to play Mikael Pernfors while Mansour Bahrami was to face Thomas Muster later in the night.

The semifinals will start at 5 pm today at the Dubai Tennis Stadium while the final will be played on Friday.

But things changed in the second set as Pioline broke his opponent a couple of times to take the set and push the match into the deciding tie-breaker.