MADRID: Andre Agassi overcame a patchy start to squeeze into the semifinals of the 2.425-millon-euro Madrid Masters after beating Tommy Robredo 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-2 yesterday.
The exit by the Iberian eighth seed meant the end of the line for Spain at home at an event won a year ago by Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The 34-year-old Agassi received a standing ovation for his effort in two hours, 27 minutes. Robredo made a match of it in the opening set, but slowly faded as Agassi kicked in the afterburners which have taken him to 59 career trophies.
Second seed Agassi finally earned the break that turned the corner in the second set as he broke for 3-1 to begin the erosion of Roberdo’s confidence.
The break was proceeded by a marathon struggle in which the American saved six break points.
“When I broke in the next game, that tipped it,” said Agassi, 6-2 indoors this season. “After that I relaxed more and started hitting better.
“In the first set, I was never able to loosen up on my shots. If you don’t hit a quality shot, he’ll make you pay. It was important to stay aggressive.
“I played better as the match went on. The edge seemed to come off his game a bit. He seemed to lose a step, that was reassuring to me about my own fitness.”
Ivan Ljubicic edged No. 7 seed Joachim Johansson in three tough sets to reach the semifinals.
The unseeded Croatian, who knocked out top seed Tim Henman in the third round, won 7-6 (2), 6-7 (1), 7-6 (3) before a sparse crowd at the Rockodromo Arena.
In today’s semis, Ljubicic will play David Nalbandian.
The fourth-seed from Argentina beat American Taylor Dent 7-6 (4), 6-3.
The Argentine is chasing a place in the season-ending event next month.
“At this point of the tournament, anyone can win,” said Nalbandian. “Agassi and I are fighting for the Masters, and we all want to be in the same place.”
Nalbandian came from 4-1 down to win the first-set tiebreak. In the second set, Nalbandian broke at love for a 5-3 lead and then held serve, closing out the match with a lob.
Dent was playing the first quarterfinal of his career in an ATP Masters Series event.
Nalbandian has battled back from injuries (ankle, abdominal, thigh) this season to stand among the top 10 in the Race and Entry Rankings after reaching the quarterfinals in three of his last four tournaments.
Johansson, a Swede who is a candidate for ATP Newcomer of the Year honors, ended his match with a double fault after Ljubicic came back from a 3-2 deficit in the tiebreak.
“He finished with a double fault, which is maybe a trademark of our match, that everything is decided by serve,” Ljubicic said. “But I felt like, as the match was going close to finish, I was winning more points on his serve than he was on mine. So that gave me extra confidence in the third tiebreak.
“After 2-0 up I lost three points in a row, but I still felt like I had my chances because he wasn’t hitting that many winners as he was in the second set.”
Neither player was broken during the quarterfinal, which lasted 2 hours and 41 minutes.
Ljubicic fired 26 aces past Johansson. In his last four service games, Ljubicic lost only two points and won two games at love. Johansson finished with 15 aces.
He had a break point in game four of the decisive set, but Johansson responded with an ace and held to 2-2. That was the only break point in the set.
There were only three break points in the serving slugfest.
Johansson, trying to advance to his first Masters Series semifinal, was not broken in any of his three matches in Madrid. He won both previous matches in straight sets.
The 25-year-old Monte Carlo resident now has a career-high 34 match wins of the season.
He reached his first career Masters Series semifinal in Hamburg, losing to Guillermo Coria of Argentina on clay. – Agencies


photo: Andre Agassi returns a shot to Tommy Robredo. – Reuters
Last update on: 23-10-2004