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Andre advances Agassi to face unseeded Safin in Paris Open final
Posted: Saturday November 06, 1999 03:41 PM
PARIS (AP) -- Andre Agassi endured some sparkling early play from Nicolas Lapentti before easing to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win in the semifinals of the Paris Open Saturday. The world No. 1 will play the unseeded Marat Safin in the final after the Russian teenager outlasted Michael Chang, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in the second semifinal. Safin has happy memories of matches against Agassi in Paris: he won a five-set thriller against the American in the 1998 French Open. Agassi got stronger as the match went on as Lapentti wilted in the face of some clinical play from the world No. 1. "We both played well in the first two sets, then it changed," Agassi said. "I got to move around the court better, I kept the pressure on and toward the end he wasn't able to get that extra shot necessary to create difficulty. He definitely wasn't moving around as well at the end." Lapentti agreed that he struggled to match Agassi physically. "I wasn't as fast around the court in the third set as I was in the first," the 23-year-old from Ecuador said. "Andre was moving me around the court and my legs were very tired at the end." But Lapentti, who didn't win a match indoors until September's Grand Slam Cup, said he is satisfied with his game. "In the last few months I have become a much better all-round player, not just a clay player. My goal at the start of the year was to get into the top 20, so I am very happy." Agassi, winner of the French and U.S. Open, started out seemingly intent on repeating his 65-minute quarterfinal demolition of Mark Philippoussis, charging to a 3-1 lead in just 12 minutes. But Agassi, the champion here five years ago, wasn't able to impose his game on Lapentti for long. He made a couple of uncharacteristic unforced errors to let Lapentti back into the set and, facing a break point at 3-4, was again overeager and hit into the net. Agassi was more patient in the second set and mistakes began to creep into Lapentti's play. A break of service in the eighth game was decisive as the American won the second set. In the third, Agassi cracked a series of service returns that proved too hot for Lapentti, who seemed to sense that his chance of his biggest win of the year had gone. Lapentti would have earned a place in the end of season World Championships with a win, but the Ecuadorian will be in the top ten for the first time in his career when the new world rankings are published on Monday. Ranked 91st at the start of the year, his career has taken off in 1999 after a fine run to the Australian Open semifinals in January. Safin outlasted Chang in the other semi. Chang had his service broken in the first game but fought back to force a tiebreak. Serving at set point, Chang was patient during a 19-stroke rally before coming to the net to hit a forehand winner. Safin got off to a great start in the second-set tiebreak taking five of the first six points. Chang saved two set points but the Russian rediscovered his powerful serving to take the set. In the third set, Chang failed to hold his service at 3-3. That inspired Safin, who raised his game to close out the match. "Agassi is a great player and I will really have to do something special to beat him," Safin said. "It is a great challenge."
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