Mantilla Beats Blogging Pioline at Seniors 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 (http://www.atpchampionstour.com/blogs.html). 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.

Pat Cash was forced to withdraw from his match with Richard Krajicek because of a foot injury. After a day to rest the injury, he is hopeful of taking to the court against Anders Jarryd on Saturday. 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.