ESPN.com - TENNIS - Agassi triumphs, will face Rafter next

 
Tuesday, January 23
Agassi triumphs, will face Rafter next



MELBOURNE, Australia -- Andre Agassi loves to make opponents work. Patrick Rafter makes hard work pay off in his acrobatic attacking.

Patrick Rafter celebrates his first-ever berth in the Australian Open semifinals.
The two are headed for a semifinal meeting at the Australian Open after Agassi beat Todd Martin 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 and Rafter rebounded from 1-4 in the third set to beat Dominik Hrbaty 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-0 Tuesday.

Agassi is the defending champion and this time doesn't have Pete Sampras to worry about. Martin knocked Sampras out in fourth round, after losing to him 13 times in a row. Last year, Agassi's come-from-behind, five-set victory over Sampras was the supreme showdown of the Australian Open.

Agassi also has a 7-4 record against Rafter. But Rafter won their last meeting in the Wimbledon semifinals last year, has won two U.S. Opens and is a heavy local favorite, the first Australian since Mark Woodforde in 1996 to reach the semifinals of the home country's Grand Slam tournament.

"This is what it feels like, huh?" said Rafter, who never had done better at the Australian than the fourth round in 1995. "It's been a long time. It feels very satisfying being at home doing it."

The crowd helps, he said.

"You don't get this quite anywhere else, for me at least," he added.

In winning 12 of the last 13 games, he also was helped by Hrbaty's collapse. The No. 14 seed double-faulted twice as he was broken in the third set's seventh game and again when he was broken in the 11th. He put in only 24 percent of his first serves in the final set.

Rafter was caught off guard in the second set when Hrbaty, conqueror of U.S. Open champion and second-seed Marat Safin, suddenly switched to a serve-and-volley attack.

"I got a little bit frustrated. He got his momentum going. I knew if I could hang in there and break him my serve would hold up," Rafter said.

Rafter showed his athletic style on a number of points, lunging to defend and then recovering to attack.

Agassi's best demonstration came on match point.

Martin hit a good angle volley. Agassi chased it down, blasted a shot that Martin could only block back, then lobbed over him.

Agassi interrupted his match briefly to catch a bug near the baseline and throw it off court. Martin, trailing 30-40 and 1-2 in the final set, waited out the distraction and served an ace.

He then held serve and, three games later, broke Agassi for a 4-3 lead. But Agassi broke right back and went on to win.

"I put on a good front," Agassi said of his mercy toward the bug.

His tennis, meanwhile, "feels pretty good. I've gotten better as the tournament has gone on," the No. 6 seed said.

Agassi's Australian Open triumph last year ended a run of four Grand Slam tournaments where he also won the French and U.S. Opens and was runner-up at Wimbledon.

Winning all four in a year "would be great," he said. "There's no saying it can't be done, but I think we're a lot closer to seeing Mark McGwire's home run record being beat than we are to seeing someone win four Grand Slams in the same year in the men's game."

Martin said the Sampras that he beat was out of practice, but "Andre is very much in form. ... Andre thrives on confidence, and he's got plenty of it."

"I was beaten today," Martin said. "I certainly didn't lose. I didn't play nearly as well as I had hoped. Most of that is due to the way Andre played."

Agassi improved his record against Martin to 13-5. Nobody ever has beaten both Sampras and Agassi at a Grand Slam tournament.

Looking ahead to Rafter's serve-and-volley style, Agassi said, "You know he's going to do it, and he still is athlete enough to pull it off, which is incredible."

Rafter said that to beat Agassi, "I'm going to have to serve better -- it's that simple -- and probably be a little more inventive from the baseline."


 




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AUDIO/VIDEO
video
 Patrick Rafter blows the match-winner by Dominik Hrbaty.
avi: 571 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

 Andre Agassi hits a beautiful lob shot against Todd Martin for match point.
avi: 2040 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1