ROME, May 17: Spain's Alex Corretja overcame sixth seed Goran Ivanisavic 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) today to move into the Sunday final of the $ 2.3-million Italian Open.

The tenth seeded Spaniard will be playing his fourth final of the year on the ATP tour against the winner of the second semi-final between seventh seed Marcelo Rios of Chile and Spain's Alberto Berasategui.

Ivanisevic saved a match point, but put a backhand into the net to lose.

The new clay-court generation mastered the old Friday when Marcelo Rios toppled Jim Courier in a three-set thriller to reach the Italian Open semifinals.

Courier, a former two-time Italian Open and French Open champion who dominated on clay in the early 90s, used to win tight matches like these.

But Rios, a 21-year-old Chilean who has risen to No 9 in the world, made fewer mistakes and prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) in two and a half hours before a packed centre court at the Foro Italico yesterday.

Courier, who has slipped to No 24 in the world rankings and was unseeded here, misfired frequently on his big forehand and was broken twice to lose the first set. But he cut down on his errors, dictated the pace and broke Rios twice to take the second.

The third set was a match in itself, with six breaks and repeated shifts in momentum. Rios served for the match at 6-5 and went up 30-0 two points from victory but Courier took four straight to break and set up the decisive tiebreaker.

Rios jumped to a 3-0 lead on three unforced errors by Courier and extended the lead to 5-1. Courier closed to 5-4 but missed on a big forehand on the next point. On the first match point, Rios hit a backhand that skipped off the baseline and ricocheted off Courier's racquet into the stands.

``I played three loose points at the beginning of the tiebreaker, and that was the difference really,'' Courier said. ``I had the momentum going into the tiebreaker but I didn't keep it going.''

Courier said he will especially remember the forehand that flew long at 5-4.

Courier said he was still satisfied with his performance heading into the French Open, which he won in 1991 and 1992.

``There are a lot of positive things to take out of this match leading into Paris,'' said Courier, who beat top-seeded Pete Sampras in the first round. ``There are times when these losses are difficult. I don't feel like this is one of those times.

Rios won the prestigious Monte Carlo Open last month and has emerged as one of the Tour's top new stars, easily recognisable by his ponytail, black shorts, black sneakers and black socks.

He said the win over Courier was one of the biggest of his career.

Mary Joe in final

BERLIN: Former World No 1 Steffi Graf suffered one of the worst defeats of her career in front of a stadium of stunned home fans in the German Open quarter-finals yesterday.

Playing only her third singles match after three months out with a knee injury, Graf was swept away from the $ 926,000 tournament 6-0, 6-1 by South African Amanda Coetzer, who also knocked the German out of the Australian Open in January.

Mary Joe Fernandez of the United States outgunned Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1 to reach the final of the $926,250 tournament.

Fernandez, ranked 14th in the world, was always in control against the No 2 seed in a 76-minute demonstration to reach the Berlin final for the first time at the eighth attempt. Her opponent in tomorrow's final will be either Coetzer or Mary Pierce of France.