Grosjean hopes to win

France's Sebastien Grosjean beat Moroccan Hicham Arazi 6-2 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the Paris Masters Series on Friday.

The sixth-seeded Frenchman, a semifinalist at the season-opening Australian Open and at the French Open, remained in contention for the last spot for the Masters Cup in Sydney later this month.

Unlike most of the other players in the draw, the French number one knew he would not have the chance to go on holiday after the $2.95 million Paris tournament because he will play in the Davis Cup final against Australia at the end of the month.

But after a one-sided match which lasted 79 minutes, he said: "I want to win the tournament in front of my home crowd. I'm not thinking about the Masters Cup or the Davis Cup final yet."

His qualification for the Masters Cup will depend on his semifinal clash with German Tommy Haas, who beat Swede Thomas Johansson to ease into the last four.

Haas, winner of back-to-back tournaments in Vienna and Stuttgart in recent weeks, fought back from one set down to dismiss Johansson 4-6 6-1 6-3.

To make it to the season-ending showdown in Australia, Grosjean needs to beat Haas and win the tournament.

But the Frenchman faces a hard task as the tournament favourite is now fourth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who reached his sixth semifinal in seven tournaments at Bercy.

KAFELNIKOV

The Russian beat Czech Jiri Novak 6-3 6-3 and will meet Swede Andreas Vinciguerra in the semifinals, hoping to win a Masters Series tournament at last after four lost finals.

"It's amazing how I have achieved things in my career like winning Grand Slams and becoming Olympic champion but I've never managed to win a Masters Series," he said.

The fourth-seeded Russian tops the bill after the exits of Gustavo Kuerten, Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Carlo Ferrero early on, and he needed just 70 minutes to dismiss Novak.

Since the U.S. Open, in which he lost to eventual champion Hewitt, Kafelnikov has only once failed to make it to the last four in an ATP tournament -- in Vienna two weeks ago.

His brilliant form has seen him reach the semifinals at the U.S. Open, in Tashkent, Moscow, Stuttgart, St Petersburg and Bercy.

"It's a matter of confidence. Indoor events have always been my strength. That's where I won my most tournaments. That's where I feel probably most comfortable," he said.

The Russian's second round win over Australian Mark Philippoussis had been enough for him to qualify for the Masters Cup.

In the semifinals, he will meet Vinciguerra, who had to wait for his sixth match point to beat Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 2-6 7-6 7-6.

The Swede, who already made it to the semifinals of a Masters Series tournament in Rome this season, led 5-0 in the last set but let Schalken back into the match before finishing him off in two hours and 20 minutes.

On his current form, Kafelnikov looks an obvious bet, but he refused to be tipped the tournament favourite.

"Every time I'm making a statement like 'I'm playing well, it's gonna be hard to beat me', the next day I wake up on the wrong foot and basically the game I played the previous day is gone," he said.