Costa faces best man Corretja in Austrian Open
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Updated: 2002-07-26 09:09

French Open champion and top seed Albert Costa raced into the quarter-finals of the Austrian Open on Thursday to set up a clash with Alex Corretja, best man at his wedding last month.

On a day blighted by downpours at this Tyrolean mountain resort, defending champion Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador crashed 6-4 6-2 to Argentina's Mariano Zabaleta, while number two seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain beat Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands 7-5 6-2.

Zabaleta's sixth seeded compatriot Gaston Gaudio also secured a berth in the last eight with a 3-6 6-1 6-0 win over 11th seed Stefan Koubek of Austria.

Once the rain let up after about four hours, Spain's Costa wasted no time in beating Germany's Michael Kohlmann 6-1 6-1 in under an hour.

"I began tired and stiff because the warm-up was very short. It's not easy with the interruptions," Costa said after his convincing win.

"I played very well today. I was very confident, serving and returning well and I was solid from the baseline," he added.

Costa, a finalist on the clay here last year, is chasing his fourth Kitzbuehel crown after winning in 1995, 1998 and 1999.

But the 27-year-old from Barcelona faces a tough battle in the last eight.

Costa will play his best friend Corretja, the eighth seed and 2000 Kitzbuehel champion who swept aside French qualifier Jean Rene Lisnard 6-3 6-2 in the third round.

"It's going to be a very tough match," Costa said. "He's a great player so I'm going to have to play 100 percent."

BITTER FIGHT

Corretja agreed that playing his friend and practice partner would be a bitter fight to the end.

Their head-to-head tally stands at 7-6 in Corretja's favour, but Costa has beaten the eighth seed in their last three encounters, most recently last month at the French Open.

"I've got to improve my record against him," Corretja said. "(Tomorrow) I've got to play deep, serve well and move my forehand all over the place."

Apart from beating his world number four compatriot, Corretja said he was also gunning for his 400th career victory this week -- which he could achieve with a win in the semi-finals.

The quarter-final line-up is completed by Nicholas Massu of Chile who beat Brazilian Wimbledon quarter-finalist Andre Sa 6-4 6-3, Romania's Andrei Pavel, a 6-3 6-0 victor over Austria's Markus Hipfl, and Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela who thrashed Russia's Nicolay Davydenko 6-0 6-1.