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Playing well Sampras, Agassi reach Indian Wells semifinals
Updated: Friday March 16, 2001 11:59 PM
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi each took steps toward a rematch of their 1995 Indian Wells final by winning quarterfinal matches Friday night. Sampras beat Patrick Rafter 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in a fast-paced match of two powerful serve-and-volley players, finishing off the Masters Series match with a 129-mph ace. Agassi, very much in control of his game and the match, rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Nicolas Lapentti in just 59 minutes. The fourth-seeded Agassi will play Lleyton Hewitt, a 6-4, 6-3 winner against Jan-Michael Gambill, in Saturday's semifinals. Sampras, No. 3, faces Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who defeated Nicolas Escude 6-1, 6-3. Sampras is a two-time champion at Indian Wells, including a victory against Agassi in the championship match six years ago. Agassi has played in the desert tournament 12 times previously, but never won it. Both he and Sampras are playing well. Agassi was extremely efficient against Lapentti, with their lengthy rallies usually ending when Agassi came to the net for a winning volley, or when Lapentti made a mistake. Agassi has beaten the Ecuadorean all four times they've played. The Sampras-Rafter match, which lasted 2 hours, 12 minutes, was one of the best in the tournament so far, featuring fine net play, scrambling recoveries and crisp passing shots by both players. "It was very good tennis, very competitive. It brought back memories of Wimbledon last year: down a set, came into a tiebreaker," said Sampras, who took a four-set victory over Rafter in the 2000 Wimbledon final. There were only two service breaks in their Indian Wells match -- by Rafter in the seventh game of the first set and by Sampras in the first game of the third. "I was having a hard time returning his serve. It wasn't until the middle of the second set that I felt like I finally got a hold on his serve," Sampras said. Rafter said Sampras' dominating serve allows him to take chances, take big swings on returns. "He's not the best returner in the world, but he is the best server, and he returns solidly enough and consistently enough to break you," Rafter said. Rafter served nine aces to eight by Sampras, but Sampras made only seven unforced errors, half as many as Rafter. After losing the first set, Sampras came back to build a 4-1 lead on his way to winning the second-set tiebreaker. He then won every point to break Rafter's serve in the first game of the third set, then held service in the second game without losing a point. Rafter didn't get his first point of the set until going to 15-15 in the third game. "I think he got a bit down on himself in the beginning of the third set," Sampras said. "I took advantage of that. There's not a lot that really separates Pat and I, just some chances." Sampras is 11-4 against Rafter, with Rafter's wins including a five-set victory in the 1998 U.S. Open semifinals. In the women's final on Saturday, Serena Williams will play 17-year-old Kim Clijsters of Belgium. Williams didn't have to play a semifinal, instead advancing when her sister Venus withdrew from their match just as it was scheduled to begin Thursday night.
Clijsters upset No. 1 Martina Hingis 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in their semifinal.
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