KEY POINTS:
A man with the letters Ferrer in his name is still in with a shot of winning the Heineken Open.
But it's not the one most were expecting.
Juan Carlos Ferrero survived a quarter-finals day of high drama yesterday. Defending champion David Ferrer did not.
Ferrer, the world No 5, was unceremoniously bundled out of the tournament 6-4, 6-0 by Frenchman Julien Benneteau last night.
Ferrer had looked unstoppable as he cruised through the first two rounds on Wednesday but he was never in the hunt against Benneteau last night, who has won both meetings between the pair on hardcourts.
Ferrer's usually dominant return game was noticeably absent. He won just nine points on the impressive Benneteau's serve all night.
Benneteau had no such problems, with Ferrer under pressure to hold from the beginning and utterly unable to do so at the end.
Benneteau will now look to repeat the feat today against Ferrero, who scraped through in three sets against Nicolas Massu.
The Chilean Olympic champion knocked Ferrero out in the first round last year but the Spaniard took his revenge yesterday.
Ferrero dropped the first set against Massu but fought back to take out one of the best matches of the tournament in just over two-and-a-half hours.
"Last year was different," Ferrero said.
"He played a good match and I played so bad, so bad. This year was totally different. We played a good battle, we both played good tennis."
If the Ferrero-Massu match was a classic, the one that followed was even better as Argentinain Juan Monaco also came from a set down to defeat Frenchman Michael Llodra in a bitterly contested three-set thriller.
Llodra, who is better known as a doubles player thanks to his Wimbledon and Australian Open titles, took the first set 6-4.
Having won a tournament in Adelaide last week, Llodra seemed likely to continue his strong recent form.
But Monaco squeaked the second set in a tiebreaker to stay alive and force an epic third set.
Monaco broke Llodra early in the decider but Llodra broke back to level at 4-4.
The match boiled over with Monaco serving to stay in it at 4-5.
The Argentinian was warned for a verbal obscenity but it was Llodra who lost his focus, dropping serve to give Monaco a chance to serve out the match. But Llodra recaptured his composure to break straight back and force a tiebreaker. But Monaco prevailed, clinching the final point on Llodra's serve for a 7-5 victory.
Monaco will take on German Philipp Kohlschreiber in today's first semifinal on centrecourt from noon.
Kohlschreiber, who regularly performs well in Auckland, was solid in beating fellow German Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4.
New Zealand No 1 Dan King-Turner's tournament came to an end when he and American partner David Martin were bundled out of the doubles by Nicolas Almagro and Sergio Roitman.
GD Jones and Rubin Statham were also knocked out, going down in straight sets to Luis Horna and Monaco.
* New Zealander Marina Erakovic was no match for former world No 4 Jelena Dokic, who won their Australian Open tennis qualifier in straight sets in Melbourne yesterday.
Dokic, who withdrew from the Hobart International citing an ankle injury yesterday, cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the first round of women's qualifying.
