Moya Victory Spoils Conspiracy Theory

Carlos Moya ended the Masters Cup hopes of compatriot Albert Costa this morning with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 victory. And in doing so he silenced whispers of a Spanish conspiracy.

If Moya, already through to the semi-finals, had lost to Costa in the Red Group round-robin match, world No1 Lleyton Hewitt would have been eliminated and the two Spaniards would have advanced to the last four of the £2.3m tournament.

But now Moya and Hewitt progress to the semis. Hewitt will face Roger Federer for a place in the final while Moya meets either Juan Carlos Ferrero or Jiri Novak, who play later today.

The determination of both Moya and Costa had been clear from the start of the match. Moya took to the court in particularly determined mood. He broke through for the first time in the sixth game, unleashing a sharply-angled forehand off the back foot that veered away from Costa's lunge and gave Moya a 4-2 lead.

Costa came back to square the set 4-4 and put the onus back on Moya. His timing was spot on as he whipped groundstrokes deep into the court but Moya held to edge 5-4 ahead.

However Costa held on to save one set point with an ace. Moya moved ahead once more, this time to 6-5 and the pressure mounted on Costa.

He survived to force a tiebreak and even held a set point of his own but Moya proved strong, rifling a forehand on to the line to bring up his third set point and clinching it with a service winner.

Costa was not finished, however, countering with some pinpoint rallying. He broke the rapidly tiring Moya in the second and eighth games and took the set 6-3 despite dropping serve himself.

Both men dug in at the beginning of the decider. In the sixth game, Costa had to fight off three break points before holding for 3-3, forcing Moya to do the same in the next, when he needed an ace and a flashing forehand winner to stave off two break points to go 4-3 ahead.

Costa, who has struggled with a lower back injury in recent weeks, called the trainer midway through the next game and received on-court massage as Moya sat on a linesman's chair at the back of the court.

Moya looked shattered but mustered one final effort three games later by racking up two match points and converting on the first with a lunging backhand volley.