MELBOURNE- Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov should feel more comfortable with his finances if he can beat Frenchman Arnaud Clement in Wednesday's Australian Open quarter-finals.
Kafelnikov, who has his own jet and has won more than US$18 million during his career, drew fire from some of his fellow professionals last week when he suggested that tennis players were underpaid.
Kafelnikov is already guaranteed around $60,000 by reaching the quarter-finals but will double that if he can beat Clement and make the semifinals.
After facing a volley of criticism, Kafelnikov has unsurprisingly refused to buy back into the money debate and said he is now concentrating on just trying to win the title.
The former world number one won the Australian Open in 1999 and was beaten by Andre Agassi in last year's final.
He has been in good touch again this year, surving a tough five-setter with Nicolas Kiefer to reach the quarter-finals for the fifth time in a row at Melbourne Park.
He is a strong favourite to beat Clement and the winner of Wednesday's second quarter-final between Carlos Moya and Sebastien Grosjean but has not been making any bold forecasts.
"It's still a long way to go to win the tournament. I've got to win three tough matches," the 26-year-old said.
"I'm not going to make any prediction at this stage. I've got to take one match at a time."
Clement, seeded 15, is the only player left in the men's draw not to drop a set all tournament.
He reached the quarter-finals for the first time when he beat Greg Rusedski in the fourth round after the British number two had knocked out world number one Gustavo Kuerten.
"He's a tough competitor. He can have a long match and he never gets tired," said Kafelnikov, who lost to Clement when they last met in Cincinatti last year.
"Even though people think I'm the favourite, I'm expecting a very tough match."
Moya has surprised everyone including himself by making the last eight. The former world number one made the 1997 U.S. Open final but a back injury in 1999 almost ended his career.
The unseeded Spaniard pulled off one of the upsets of the tournament when he beat Australian teenager Lleyton Hewitt in an epic third-round clash that went the full distance then made the quarters with a straight sets win over Rainer Schuettler.
"My tennis now is not far off my best," said Moya, who won the French Open in 1998.
"I'm very confident, I'm 100 per cent healthy, I feel great.
"When you are having a bad moment you never think about getting back to where you were but when you're confident you think you're able to beat anybody.
"That's how I'm thinking right now."
Grosjean also sprung a surprise when he beat world number four Magnus Norman in the fourth round.
The 16th seeded Frenchman had never been in the quarter-finals of a grand slam before but made it through to the last eight when the Swede unselfishly conceded when the umpire called a let on match-point when Grosjean thought he'd won.
"I'm happy to be in the quarters of a grand slam. It was one of my goals for this season," Grosjean said.
Moya beat Grosjean on the way to winning the French Open in 1998 but lost their last meeting in 1999.