|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Automatic Andre Agassi dismisses upstart Roddick in easy fashion
WASHINGTON (AP) -- If Andre Agassi's back was going to fail him at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, this would have been the night. Agassi beat 17-year-old Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals Friday in a match delayed twice by rain. The top seed then started his doubles match almost immediately with partner Sargis Sargsian and pulled a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 upset of the second-seeded doubles team. "Today, I think, was the ultimate test," Agassi said. "As tight as I feel now is as tight as I feel on a normal level. I think it [the back problem] is pretty much behind me." In singles, the tournament's five-time champion broke serve once in each set and was in control of most of the points against the teenage American wild-card entry. "He certainly seems to have a lot of weapons," Agassi said. "I'm never surprised when guys step it up." Roddick was playing his first ATP Tour quarterfinal after advancing with victories against eighth-seeded Fabrice Santoro and ninth-seeded Karol Kucera. "It was a close match. He was in control of it the whole time," Roddick said. "This week's been awesome. To score a couple of big wins and play Agassi again, it's been great." In the semifinals Saturday, Agassi will face 14th seed David Prinosil, who upset sixth-seeded Byron Black 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Third-seeded Nicolas Kiefer of Germany also advanced, beating fifth-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Kiefer, who has played three three-set matches in as many days, broke Gambill's serve four times and won the final five games. "We've played twice against each other and I've never gotten a set against him," Kiefer said. "I served and returned very well, and that was the key to the match." Serving at 1-2 in the third set, the German was called for a foot fault on his second serve at 30-15. He responded by softly hitting a ball in the direction of the linesman who made the call, prompting a warning for unsportsmanlike behavior. At deuce in the same game, Kiefer was penalized a point by the chair umpire for spitting in the direction of the linesman. "The second one, I don't know why I got a point penalty. I was spitting in the air," Kiefer said. After Kiefer argued with the chair umpire, Gambill failed to take advantage of the penalty point. However, he agreed that Kiefer did nothing wrong. "I don't think what he did warranted a penalty point, so I don't think I really earned that point," Gambill said. In the other quarterfinal, second-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain beat Australia's Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3. Corretja broke serve at 3-2 in the third set to take control of the match.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
