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France sent two of its shorter tennis representatives in quest of quarterfinal berths today. Sadly for L?Hexagone, both Fabrice Santoro and Sébastien Grosjean came up, well, short. The other nation with two quarterfinalists was Argentina. The Argentine legion fared better, as Guillermo Cañas pulled off the upset of the day, defeating second seed Marat Safin. Below we focus on the only three-setter among the quarterfinals, Tommy Haas?s win over Santoro, as well as the Grosjean?s late evening los s to Jiri Novak.

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Tommy Haas (3) def. Fabrice Santoro, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Quarterfinal
Stadium
Previous head-to-head: Haas leads 5-2

Tommy Haas followed up his dramatic third-round squeaker against Pete Sampras last night with a somewhat arduous 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over the pesky Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, finally winning it on his fifth match point.

The first few games were played in an almost empty stadium: Cañas-Safin had just completed, and since it was another hot day, many fans had left to find some shade and grab a cool beverage. They didn?t miss much, as the players stayed on serve in the uneventful first seven games.

Things picked up with Santoro serving at 3-4. ?The Magician? led 40-0, but Haas got it back to deuce. There were a total of 8 deuces in this game that seemed never-ending: Haas finally ended the marathon on his sixth break point of the game with a winning overhead. But Haas failed to consolidate this very hard-won break, dropping his serve at 5-3 thanks to some wild forehands. Fabrice, still alive and serving at 4-5, continued the ?breakfest?, losing his serve at love, and with it the set. Haas?s exce llent one-handed backhand, by far his most solid shot in this match, put Santoro in a 0-40 hole, then Tommy cashed in his first set point with a serve-volley point that concluded with Santoro missing a running backhand pass.

Santoro now started going to the net more often, and drew first blood in the second set with a break at 2-2. He retained the advantage for the balance of the set to level the match. Not without some shaky moments, though: Haas had 3 break points at 3-2 and another at 4-3, but the little Frenchman served and volleyed his way out of trouble, and finally served out the set at love with a creative, off-balance backhand winner. It should be said that Haas had 18 break points in the match, and, although he br oke 4 times, Haas himself admitted he might have made the match a little easier by converting more of these chances.

Haas started the third set on fire, serving strongly, driving impressive backhand winners and continuing to punish the Santoro serve. Tommy picked up an early break to lead 2-0. ?I think he just played too good,? said Santoro about this critical break. "He passed me three times in this game, and I cannot say that I played a bad game.?

Fabrice was now scrambling all over the court in an effort to flag down Haas?s potent baseline drives. On one point, after a series of sprinting Santoro retrievals ended with a Haas winner, Santoro fell face down to the court in exhaustion, and the crowd (which had by now returned to the stadium in full force), vigorously applauded the Frenchman?s efforts.

Santoro?s efforts were proving to be in vain, however, and Haas dug Fabrice into a deep hole with a blazing backhand return that gave the German a double break and a 5-1 lead. We suspected the final game would be a formality, but Santoro dug in his heels with Haas serving for the match. Haas fell behind 0-40 after he was unable to reply to a Santoro drop volley. It took a while and six break points, but Haas finally double faulted, and Santoro remained alive at 2-5.

At 2-5 Haas was again worrying Santoro?s serve, and another long game ensued that saw Santoro fight off 4 match points, the fourth on a lovely forehand pass down the line. Finally, after four deuces and at advantage Santoro, Haas didn?t make an attempt to run after a Santoro backhand, as if to say, ?To heck with this, just let me serve for the match again!? At 5-3, Haas decided we?d had enough dramatacs for the day. He crisply moved to a 40-15 lead, and made good on match point with his 13th ace. Make the final: 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

So Haas claims a spot in the Canadian Masters Series semifinals for the second year in a row, and will play Guillermo Cañas tomorrow afternoon. Haas won their only previous meeting, on clay last year. Tommy, like most observers, is expecting a tough fight with the rampant Argentine. ?He hasn?t lost a set, so that speaks for itself. He runs every ball down. He has a good serve, a big forehand, and the main thing is, he really fights.? Regardless of the outcome, Haas has already surpassed the expectations he had of this week. ?Every match I play right now is really a bonus for me. After that long layover I had [he missed Wimbledon and is in his second tournament back after attending to his sore right shoulder and his seriously injured parents], going forward to the U.S. Open, yeah, it?s been great.?

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Jiri Novak (14) def. Sébastien Grosjean (11), 7-5, 6-3
Quarterfinal
Stadium
Previous head-to-head: Grosjean leads 2-1

It wasn?t a good day for our undersized Frenchmen. Grosjean, who at 5?9? (1,75m) is an inch shorter than Santoro, also failed in his bid to reach the semis when he fell to Jiri Novak in the late evening match.

Novak and Grosjean had been quietly moving through the draw, and were making their first appearance of the week on the main stadium. Novak had the lighter workload, breezing past Xavier Malisse, Mariano Zabaleta and Taylor Dent in straight sets. Grosjean needed to survive a scare in a three-set comeback win over Bohdan Ulihrach in the first round (saving four match points), before cruising past Jarkko Niemenen and lucky loser Radek Stepanek to reach his first Canadian quarterfinal.

Grosjean was the more spectacular of the two in the early stages. His blazing foot speed and squash-style flick-of-the-wrist forehands on the run never failed to draw gasps from the large crowd. The more controlled Novak, who glides his 6?3? (1,91m) frame smoothly around the court and never seems to force any of his movements, relied on his deep returns and groundstrokes, and attempted either to coax an impatient error from his opponent or look for an opportunity to go to the net. The Czech, one of the world?s best doubles players, possesses solid volleys.

The fans were entertained tonight by ?Loopy Lou?, the increasingly notorious travelling ATP fan. After each game, the bearded retired postal worker from New York would wave the national flag of whichever player happened to win it, screaming ?Czech Republic!? or ?Allez la France?, as the case may be. We discovered tonight that Loopy Lou does not appreciate competition. When a group of guys in the section behind him tried to start a Mexican wave, Lou turned to admonish them, ?Don?t upstage me, it?s my last night!?

Grosjean?s speed and explosiveness dominated much of the first set, and the Frenchman took what looked like a decisive lead when he broke Novak?s serve to take a 5-3 lead. This was Novak?s only sloppy game of the match, as the tall Czech made a series of forehand errors to lose his serve at 15. But serving for the set, Grosjean immediately returned the favour, making a strange, almost nonchalant slice backhand at 30-40 to hand the break back. This seemed to energize Novak, and he rebroke Grosjean at lo ve to take a 6-5 lead in a game that featured a splendid stretch volley at 0-15 and a clean backhand return winner at 0-40. Now with his turn to serve for the set, Novak was impeccable, acing Grosjean at 40-15 to ensure a 7-5 lead.

Novak had these comments on his comeback from 3-5 down: ?I think he was a little bit better in the first set. I think that breaking his serve was the most important thing because then I was holding my serve and my confidence was getting a little bit higher, and in the second set I think that I was much better on the court.?

Indeed, Novak played an almost flawless second set. He broke Grosjean in the fifth game, when at 30-40 he nailed a fine cross-court forehand that forced a running forehand error by the Frenchman. Serving solidly and playing almost error-free tennis the rest of the way, he broke an increasingly dejected-looking Grosjean one last time at 3-5. At 15-40, Grosjean sent a dispirited backhand wide. Smiling broadly, Cheery Jiri celebrated his second Canadian semifinal in the past three years.

We met with Jiri after the match in the locker room area to get his thoughts, and the big man from the Czech Republic was still smiling, clearly pleased with his play tonight and this week.

Toronto seems to be a good luck charm for Novak. ?Two years ago I also reached the semifinals here and beat two very good players [Patrick Rafter and Thomas Enqvist], and I?m very happy about it. I think it?s a very good start of the hard court season, and I think it?s one of the best results in my life.?

Tomorrow Novak will play Andy Roddick, who has recovered from his controversial second round cramping episode against Nicolás Lapentti and impressively blew away David Nalbandian in straight sets this evening. Roddick has only had his serve broken once all week, and with the fast court conditions here Novak regards himself as the underdog. ?It?s going to be our first meeting, but I?ve known Andy Roddick already for two years. I know that he?s a very tough player. He?s improving a lot and he?s one of the youngest players in the top 50 or the top 20. I think he?s going to be the favourite for the match tomorrow, but you know, I?ve got nothing to lose. I can play without the pressure, and we?ll see tomorrow. It will be tough to break him, but I will just try to play my best tennis.?

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Toronto Tidbits

Cañas going to the semis, Safin going crazy

Guillermo Cañas (pictured at right) booked a spot opposite Tommy Haas in what will be his first-ever Masters Series semifinal with a 7-5 6-3 upset win over the second seed, Marat Safin

Cañas won the first set by breaking Safin?s serve at 6-5 thanks to some brilliant shotmaking and, believe it or not, volleying. ?Willy? was coming to the net consistently behind is forehand when he had the chance today. On his second set point, the Argentine bulldog again approached the net: Safin struck a dipping forehand cross-court, but Cañas dug it out with a nifty half-volley that Safin had no chance to reach.

Given that Safin played a long three set match in the mid-afternoon heat yesterday, we wondered if he would have sufficient resources of energy to stage a repeat of his comeback win over Marcelo Ríos. It appeared not, when Cañas broke Marat to take a 3-1 second set lead. The moody Russian now had that dark and stormy look that all tennis fans know well -- slumping, complaining about line calls, and, of course, executing one of his patented racquet slams. Cañas did not let his man off the hook, as Ríos had done when he had Safin in similar danger yesterday. The Argentine terror was solid to the end, delivering an ace on his first match point to seal a well-deserved 7-5, 6-3 win.

After the match an extremely frustrated Safin berated himself at great length for being overly cautious and not taking advantage of the opportunities he had. ?It makes me so pissed I cannot describe it,? fumed Marat. ?I have to look for solutions because I cannot move on like this. Otherwise I will go crazy.?

Cañas said he has been dealing with a sore right wrist, which caused him to withdraw from the doubles yesterday and which he looked at and shook at times early in today?s match. But he said it got better as the match progressed, and he seemed unconcerned about the wrist for tomorrow?s showdown with Haas. ?In the beginning I feel a little pain, but then after 3-3, 4-4, I started to feel like 100 percent.?

Doubles! Doubles!

The hometown favourite Daniel Nestor rolled on today, reaching the semifinals along with his partner Mark Knowles. The top seeds here, Knowles/Nestor scored a convincing straight set win over Australian Michael Hill and India?s Leander Paes. We thought this might be a close one, but Paes clearly lacks the confidence and incisiveness he had when he and countryman Mahesh Bhupathi were the top team in the world, and was getting little support from the sluggish Hill. The well-oiled Knowles/Nestor machine w ill face veteran Australian doubles specialists Joshua Eagle and Sandon Stolle in one semifinal. The other semi will feature the Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, who upset the second seeds Don Johnson and Jared Palmer today. They will face Team David, David Rikl of the Czech Republic and David Prinosil, a German of Czech extraction.

Quotable quotes

After he lost to Guillermo Cañas at the French Open this year, Carlos Moyá compared the Argentine?s tireless and unrelenting style to that of former ?King of Clay? Thomas Muster. Cañas said today that Muster was never a particular hero of his. ?I have two. For sure Guillermo Vilas, because for my country he was very important. The second, I think it might be Lendl. When I was young I saw him play. But I like the guy to compare me with this kind of guy, you know, because Muster was number one in th e world.?