PARIS -- It's taken Albert Costa 25 Grand Slam tournaments to reach a semifinal.

The Spaniard finally did it Tuesday by accomplishing something no one else had been able to at the French Open: He got the indefatigable Guillermo Canas off the court in less than 4 hours.

It took 3:54, to be exact, for the 20th-seeded Costa to wrap up the 7-5, 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-0 quarterfinal victory. Costa won the last 10 games of the match.

Costa's semifinal opponent will be either fellow Spaniard Alex Corretja, twice a French Open runner-up, or No. 22 Andrei Pavel. Their quarterfinal was suspended by rain with Corretja leading 7-6 (5), 7-5, 4-5.

Quarterfinal matches scheduled for Wednesday pit No. 2 Marat Safin against No. 10 Sebastien Grosjean, and No. 4 Andre Agassi against clay-court specialist Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The 15th-seeded Canas, a remarkably resilient Argentine, entered Tuesday having played four consecutive matches longer than 4 hours -- including a stunning upset of top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round.

"I think he was a little tired,'' said Costa, who staged an upset of his own in the fourth round, eliminating two-time defending champion Gustavo Kuerten in straight sets.

"This is a new sensation, to be in a Grand Slam semifinal,'' Costa said. "I'm feeling very, very good. VERY happy.''

It looked as if this French Open would end, as it has eight times before, without good news for Costa -- a clay-court specialist who has long had the shots but never the nerves to advance in the majors.

His best previous showing in Paris was the quarterfinals, in 1995 and 2000. He's also been to the quarters in the Australian Open ('97), while his top U.S. Open effort was making the fourth round last year.

Costa's match against Canas was a battle of marathon baseline points.

"All the points were unbelievable rallies,'' Costa said. "He was fighting a lot, running, running, running. ... I knew that his level had to go down. He couldn't play at that level throughout.''

Down a set and 2-4 in the fourth, Costa reset the pace, drawing Canas to the net and sending him back again.

"I said to myself, 'Come on, if you don't do it now, you're going to lose,''' Costa said.

After making 72 errors in the first three sets, Costa trimmed it to 18 in the final two.

At the end of the fourth set, Costa let loose a forehand winner and announced it with a mighty roar well before the ball landed in.

When the Argentine sent his last forehand wide, Costa knelt to the ground and blew a kiss to the sky.

"If you endure long enough,'' Costa said, "you'll be able to get there in the end.''