Moya moves on

Carlos Moya’s quest for a second French Open title continued unabated on Monday as he surged into the quarter-finals thanks to a straight-sets victory over veteran Jonas Bjorkman.

The 23rd seed, the champion here in 1998, grabbed a 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 7-5 victory in two hours 38 minutes on Suzanne Lenglen court to set up a last-eight showdown with either Rafael Nadal or Lleyton Hewitt.

The Spaniard’s greater clay-court nous did for doubles-specialist Bjorkman, who at 35 was the oldest player to reach the last 16 in the men’s singles.

The Swede started like a train, going 3-0 then 5-2 ahead before Moya’s game finally clicked into gear.

He won four games in a row and was on the brink of taking the set when serving at 6-5 up, but Bjorkman broke to love to send it into a tie-break.

Bjorkman took a 5-3 lead but the Spaniard won four points on the spin – the last of which was a fortunate net cord – to claim the set in 57 minutes.

The second set went with serve until the sixth game, when 30-year-old Moya broke to 15 to go 4-2 ahead.

After holding his serve, the 30-year-old wasted two set points on Bjorkman’s before clinching it with his third attempt.

Bjorkman received some treatment on his right shoulder prior to the third set and it was he who was next to be broken, in the fourth game.

The Swede broke back immediately for 3-2 and the contest went with serve until the 12th and final game, when Moya clinched the victory on his first match point thanks to a Bjorkman backhand into the net.