Moya Notches 500th Career Win; Tursunov Falls
Former World No.1 Carlos Moya notched his 500th career win Thursday at the BCR Open Romania in Bucharest as the No.3 seed defeated crowd favorite Andrei Pavel 6-4, 7-6(5).
The 30-year-old, who has 19 titles under his belt, won his lone Grand Slam crown in 1998 Roland Garros, beating countryman Alex Corretja in the final.
In 2006, the Spanish veteran won the Buenos Aires title (d. Volandri), reached the final at Chennai (l. Ljubicic) and semis at Estoril and Umag. He is currently No.41 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings.
Moya, the No.6 Spaniard behind Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Fernando Verdasco leads the circuit in wins among active players.
For a spot in his fifth semifinal of the season the Spaniard will battle fifth-seeded Filippo Volandri, a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 winner over Stefan Koubek.
Volandri, who is chasing his second career ATP title (St. Poelten), trails Moya 1-5 in their head-to-head series. The last time both players met, in the Buenos Aires final, the Spaniard defeated the Italian 7-6(6), 6-4.
Also advancing to the quarterfinals was Paul-Henri Mathieu, who rolled past wild card Victor Crivoi 6-1, 6-1 to post his 98 th career win (98-106).
The 24-year-old Frenchman will next take on Guillermo Garcia-Lopez who upset top seed Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3).