Mantilla Halts Pioline Run

Felix Mantilla produced another impressive performance on Friday evening to sink the in-form Cedric Pioline 6-4, 6-0 and surge towards the final in Barcelona.

Friday was another water-logged day at the Real Club de Tenis in Barcelona, with constant interruptions meaning that play didn’t finish until nearly 9pm. Mantilla was not perturbed. “For me it was worth the wait to play and win the match,” he said.

While waiting for the rain to subside, Pioline penned the first part of an exclusive Blog. He wrote about the book he is reading, life in the locker-room and his hopes for another win over Pete Sampras. In Part Two, which will be out on Monday, the Frenchman talks about Roger Federer's current slide, the challenges of switching surfaces, and who he thinks will win Wimbledon in 2009.

Pioline had been on a five-match winning streak after lifting The Masters Tennis trophy in London at the end of last year, but today he had no reply to the heavy topspin and hard hitting of Mantilla.

“I’m in my home club and this has been a special tournament for me throughout my career so it’s always nice to play here with all my friends and family around,” said Mantilla.

Elsewhere, Albert Costa continued his dominance of Group A with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Anders Jarryd and Magnus Gustafsson completed an impressive 6-3, 7-5 victory over Michael Stich.

Matches are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions’ Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner. After all round-robin matches are complete, the top two players in each group will meet in Sunday's final.

After Barcelona, the ATP Champions Tour will move on to Sao Paulo for the Nosas Caixa Grand Champions (May 21-24), and after that will arrive in Istanbul for the Legends Cup (June 17-21).

To view the order of play and the round-robin groups, go to the Results. You can also get the very latest scores, news updates and behind-the-scenes info on our Twitter page.