World number seven Fernando Gonzalez stayed on course for his first title of the year after a rain-disrupted 7-5, 6-7, 6-4 quarter-final victory over South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik at the China Open on Friday.
With top seed Nikolay Davydenko bowing out on Thursday, the Chilean goes into the weekend as favourite to win the $500,000 tournament but will have to be much more consistent if he is to get past Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in the semi-finals.
Fourth seed Ljubicic recorded his first win in four matches against Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 victory over the holder.
Spanish third seed Tommy Robredo thrashed Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-1 to reach his fourth semi-final of the year. He next faces German wildcard Nicolas Kiefer, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Croatian teenager Marin Cilic.
But it was the Jeckyl and Hyde performance of second seed Gonzalez that dominated centre court for nearly five hours.
The 27-year-old started as he left off in his humbling of compatriot Paul Capdeville on Wednesday and hustled and harried his way to a 5-0 lead after 19 minutes.
Suddenly, though, rather than hitting winners, Gonzalez was ballooning the ball into the leaden skies and flinging his racket around in frustration.
"Lee wasn't playing too well at the beginning, then he started to play well and I missed a few shots," Gonzalez told reporters.
Sixth seed Lee, the Asian number one, won the next five games to level the set before rain stopped play.
WET WEATHER
Gonzalez came out and racked up five straight games to seize the first set and take a 3-0 lead in the second before the wet weather returned for nearly two hours.
"It was really tough because we stopped so many times," said the Chilean, who reached the final of the Australian Open in January. "Mentally it was really tough."
Gonzalez was without a win since June when he arrived here and his problems returned after the next break, Lee again levelling the set before taking the tiebreak 7-5.
The Chilean broke Lee in the first game of the decider but despite the cool Korean breaking back, he would not be denied and a rasping forehand winner secured victory after two hours 23 minutes of tennis.
Baghdatis was hugely disappointed to give up his title after saving two match points in the decisive tiebreak against Ljubicic.
"I had many opportunities but I didn't grasp them," he said. "He played well in the tiebreak and he was more aggressive."
