|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Agassi advances again No. 2 seed handles Philippoussis in three sets
Posted: Thursday July 06, 2000 01:26 AM
LONDON (Reuters) -- Second seed Andre Agassi powered past Mark Philippoussis 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the Wimbledon semifinals on Wednesday, and said his game has come right at just the right time. "I was somewhat against the wall coming into this event just because I hadn't had the matches I wanted. "But I said all along if I can get through the first week I can start bringing out different parts of my game on this court." Agassi will play Australian 12th seed Pat Rafter for a place in Sunday's final after Rafter beat German Alexander Popp 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 on Court One. Agassi beat Rafter in last year's semifinals before losing the final to Pete Sampras. Agassi absorbed everything huge-serving Philippoussis threw at him and the 1992 champion snatched the first set on a tie-break after 50 minutes with his first ace. He secured the first break of the match in the eighth game of the second set when Philippoussis, whose last two matches had gone to five sets, double-faulted. He broke again for 2-1 in the third as the Australian was forced into going for more and more power on his serve in the face of excellent returning. That break was all Agassi needed as he closed out the match on his own serve after one hour 58 minutes. "Obviously just one or two points cost me that opening set and it would have been nice to get that set because Andre is such a great front-runner," Philippoussis said afterwards. "I was feeling good ... can't have any complaints. Against a player like Andre you've got to take your chances. "I can hold my head up high -- I've nothing to be ashamed of." Agassi said: "He has a great serve game ... one of the best in the sport. I think Mark will have his day -- he's a powerful figure out there who can have great tournaments against the best of us." Looking forward to his semifinal with Rafter, Agassi said: "It's nice to see Pat playing well. He is a great athlete with a lot to offer the sport. "This is a great arena for competing against him in. He's one of the best competitors out there, if not the best. "We had a great match here last year where I was down two set points and all of a sudden found myself up two sets. "It was high quality tennis -- I don't expect anything less in a couple of days' time."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
