PARIS, June 6 (UPI) -- Agassi ousted at French
PARIS, June 6 (UPI) -- 11th-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, playing perhaps his best-ever match Thursday, humbled No. 4 Andre Agassi, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, to reach the French Open semifinals for the third time in his career.
"This is very special to be able to be able to beat Agassi," Ferrero said. "He plays very quickly. This really makes him impressive because you're not able to make him play from the back. You have to be playing very well to beat him and doing it in the quarters is a great accomplishment for me. He's one of the greatest players ever."
Continuing a contest that started on Wednesday and was suspended because of rain at 6-3, 1-0, for Ferrero, the Spaniard used a wide variety of shots at all angles. He confounded Agassi with his heavy kick serve, gamely hung with him in crosscourt backhand rallies, and was more impressive from the forehand side, igniting rockets both down the line, at short angles and crosscourt.
"He makes you move around the whole time and the pace is quite fast," Ferrero said. "You have to try to wrap up the rallies every time or he's going to tire you out. I tried to dominate if I could."
Agassi came out much more motivated early than he had been on Wednesday while Ferrero took a little time to get his strokes grooved. Agassi broke serve to go ahead, 4-3, but was unable to serve the set out at 5-4. Ferrero then broke when Agassi dumped a swing volley into the net, and then committed a backhand error, but the American broke right back at love with a series of brutal groundstrokes to go ahead, 6-5. He then served out the set when Ferrero careened a forehand return long.
But the Spaniard immediately broke to open the third set and began to hit with more depth and purpose, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. Agassi began to force the action more, establishing himself in the center of the court and climbed back to 5-5. But he failed to take advantage of three break points, missing a backhand, knocking a forehand into the net, and then burying a huge forehead return into the net. Ferrero held to 6-5, and Agassi was clearly rattled, double faulting to set point and then sculling a forehand.
"It was a big opportunity there," Agassi said. "Those chances are going to come and go. There are times when you make them but that turned out to be pretty big. But as far as I was concerned, I was a 'hold' away from being in the breaker when I was planning on winning the set. He stepped up his game more than me being deflated. I felt he got out of jail there and let a few shots start to fly. You have to give him credit for the way he played."
Ferrero broke Agassi to jump ahead, 2-0, after he slapped a forehand passing shot down the line and then watched Agassi commit a backhand error. Agassi's frustration was apparent in the fifth game, when he screamed out loud after he missed a forehand long. Then, after floating a backhand volley wide, he made like a giant crane and flapped his arms, mocking his own volleying technique. The Spaniard won the match by crushing a forehand down the line.
In his first match against Ferrero, Agassi was very impressed.
"His game is big," Agassi said. "He can really hit the ball well off his forehand from both sides of the court. He hits it heavy and has a really heavy first serve. And when he has time on his backhand he's solid there, too. He's always looking to play offense and can play both strokes down the line and crosscourt. He's hard to stop and I'd put him as the favorite at this point."
Ferrero, who will now play Marat Safin of Russia, who he suffered a bad ankle sprain early in the tournament and thought he might not be able to play.
For the aging Agassi, it was a missed opportunity.
"I'm certainly aware of the opportunities being fewer and fewer," Agassi said. "I suppose for me this one has always been the most difficult to win and I felt like I was here giving myself a chance. Still, I look toward the future. Ever year the chances get less for everybody, but you are more aware of it when you get older. But I still like my game in most scenarios and like my chances if I keep working hard."
Elsewhere, completing a match that spanned three days, 18th-seed Alex Corretja needed just 11 minutes on Thursday morning to complete a 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 win over Romania's Andrei Pavel. The match was suspended due to darkness on Tuesday and the two never took the court on Wednesday due to rain.
The 18th-seeded Corretja will face No. 20 Albert Costa, his close friend, in the other semifinal. Costa advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-0 triumph over 15th-seeded Guillermo Canas of Argentina on Tuesday.
