Paris, May 31: His wilderness years behind him Carlos Moya, champion in 1998 before injuries took a hold, raced into the last 16 of the men's singles at the French Open yesterday with a 6-2 6-3 3-6 2-6 6-3 win over Argentine 31st seed Juan Ignacio Chela.

Fourth-seeded Moya, who had seen off big-serving Aussie Mark Philippoussis in straight sets in the previous round, had to go the distance before setting up a meeting with Jiri Novak, the Czech 13th seed who beat Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 7-5 3-6 6-2.
Moya had no problems in the opening two sets which he largely dominated. But he then lost his way as Chela broke in the eighth game of the third and then served out to get a toehold in the match.
That stopped Moya in his tracks and Chela promptly broke him twice more to motor into a 3-0 fourth set lead.
Moya had come out wearing one of his ultra-fashionable sleeveless tops - handy for a sultry evening. But he briefly seemed to have left his game in the locker room along with his sleeves.


Bureau Report