Horna beats Canas at Copa Telemax

Buenos Aires, Argentina:

Luis Horna of Peru rallied to beat Guillermo Canas of Argentina 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 at the Copa Telmex on Thursday in a match featuring the first two winners in the South American clay-court season. Horna, the champion three weeks ago in Vina del Mar, Chile, and Canas, who won last week in Costa do Sauipe, Brazil, met for the first time in a round-robin decider for the quarterfinals. Canas broke in the 10th game to claim the first set, but Horna settled his nerves and paid back the Argentine in the opening game of the second, eventually tying the set score. In the decider, Horna broke Canas in the fourth and seventh games and the cruised home. "I feel very comfortable. But it was a very hard and difficult match," Horna said. Canas was full of praise after his fifth attempt to try and win his hometown event. "I did all I could to win, but Luis played a great match," he said. Moya ousted In Friday's quarterfinals, Horna, who eliminated top-seeded David Nalbandian earlier, meets his training partner, Juan Monaco of Argentina, who ousted defending champion Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-0. Moya, who's won Buenos Aires three times and never lost before the quarterfinals, spurred Monaco after winning the second set. The Argentine decided to play more assertively and blanked the fifth-seeded Moya in the final set. "It was a very difficult second set and I just couldn't close it. But I never gave up and just put a little more attitude into my play," Monaco said after his first win over the former No 1. Earlier, another former No 1 and Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated Czech replacement Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 6-3 but missed making the quarterfinals. Ferrero came second in his round-robin group to Nicolas Devilder of France, who beat the Spaniard on Wednesday and will advance to his first ATP quarterfinals against Diego Hartfield of Argentina. Devilder had lost to Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, who withdrew injured and was replaced by Dlouhy. Gaudio withdraws Also, 2005 champion Gaston Gaudio withdrew from his hometown event citing muscle fatigue, sending Alessio Di Mauro of Italy to the final eight. Although Gaudio's late substitute, Argentine Carlos Berlocq, beat Di Mauro 6-1, 6-4, the result didn't matter as Di Mauro gained Friday's opening quarterfinal against Spaniard Albert Montanes. Montanes won his group decider against Brazil's Flavio Saretta 6-3, 6-3. Sixth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela outlasted Russia's Igor Andreev 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to make the final eight. Chela double-faulted to fall behind 5-3 in the first set, which Andreev closed with a love game. In the second set, Andreev tired in the heat, and Chela broke in the 11th game. In the decider, Chela raced ahead 5-3 and served out to win in 2 hours, 26 minutes. "This was very important," said Chela, whose best performance in Buenos Aires was the 2002 semifinals. "It was a very tough match as I dropped the first set and I'm glad I was able to win." Chela will next meet fourth-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain, who topped his group after beating Stefano Galvani of Italy 6-4, 7-6 (2). Almagro also reached the quarterfinals last week in Costa do Sauipe.