Form in Ferrero's favour

Despite Sebastien Gorsjean's defeat of Andre Agassi in the quarter-finals, the feeling is that the probable winner of the second Grand Slam of the year will come from one of the two players in the other side of the draw. There the holder Gustavo Kuerten meets the impressively efficient Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Not much has been said of Spain's Ferrero although his progress through four rounds has been spectacular. The 13th seed has dropped only one set and that was in a tie-break to Karim Alami in the third round.

In addition, he has spent only nine hours 48 minutes getting to this point of the tournament, almost an hour and a half faster than his nearest rival Grosjean. Importantly Kuerten has played more than three hours longer than Ferrero, or, the equivalent of an entire match.

But the critical factor is Ferrero's form at the moment. The Spaniard ushered 14th-seed Thomas Enquist out in just over an hour and a half and he did the same to Lleyton Hewitt in just over two hours using his forehand, particularly, to oust them.

Kuerten, however, inspite of his more arduous arrival to this stage, did not finish as the world's number one last year because of his inability to endure tournaments. And beating Ferrero at the same stage last year in five sets won't be forgotten.

In fellow Spainard Alex Corretja, Grosjean faces a clay court master, who was runner-up here three years ago and reached the quarter-finals for the last two years. His pleasant off court demeanour belies an ability to patiently, if dourly, grind out matches from the back of the court.

Grosjean's forehand, however, might be too much. It is unlikely that he will raise his game to the level of that which subdued Agassi but it is he who will go into the match with confidence. That will be a concern to Corretja.