FRENCH OPEN / MEN’S SEMIFINALS : Bruguera Can’t Sneak Up on Courier

A year ago, Sergi Bruguera was an unheralded, unappreciated and largely unsuccessful player who came to the French Open and wound up showing two-time and defending champion Jim Courier the door.

In a 3-hour 59-minute final, Bruguera outlasted Courier, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, for his only Grand Slam tournament title.

Today, Courier gets a chance to return the favor when they meet in a men’s semifinal at Roland Garros Stadium.

The other semifinal features two lesser-known players. Bruguera’s fellow Spaniard, 20th-ranked Alberto Berasategui, will play No. 46 Magnus Larsson of Sweden.

The Bruguera-Courier matchup pits two of the world’s best clay-court players, although they are ranked sixth and seventh, respectively. Bruguera, as does Berasategui, concentrates on clay tournaments. Courier, despite his drop in the rankings this year, is dangerous on all surfaces.

They begin today’s match with impressive quarterfinal victories over higher-ranked opponents. Courier defeated top-ranked Pete Sampras, who was trying to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major tennis titles at the same time. Courier’s four-set victory was followed by Bruguera’s defeat of No. 4 Andrei Medvedev.

Bruguera has yet to drop a set, effectively using a powerful spinning forehand that opponents have trouble returning on the slow red clay.

“It’s almost impossible to explain what I felt,” Bruguera said of last year’s victory. “I was in heaven for a moment.”

Now the moment is over. Bruguera said he played better last year, before he had to bear the added pressure of being defending champion.

“It is much tougher to play (this year),” he said, “Sometimes (I) can’t sleep well.”

The other semifinalists should not be having those problems. Few knew much about Berasategui and Larsson when the tournament began 12 days ago. Still, Berasategui, 20, of Barcelona, was considered a player who could succeed on the clay at Paris, even though this is only his fourth Grand Slam event.

Larsson is playing in his 17th Grand Slam tournament, but has never advanced this far. He survived a five-set match against Henrik Dreekmann of Germany to reach the semifinals. Berasategui routed No. 5 Goran Ivanisevic in straight sets in the quarterfinals.