Former champion and fourth seed Andre Agassi was knocked out of the French Open on Thursday by Spain’s 11th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The 22-year-old Spaniard won their two hour 45 minute quarter-final clash 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 and will now face either second seeded Russian Marat Safin or French 10th seed Sebastien Grosjean in the semi-final.
Ferrero, who has won five of his six career titles on clay, has now reached his third successive semi-final in three appearances at Roland Garros and his progress is even more remarkable since he almost pulled out of the tournament before the second round last week when he injured his right ankle in practice.
Furthermore, his victory means the semi-finals here will feature three Spaniards with Albert Costa and Alex Corretja having already reached the last four.
”The crucial part of the match was the 11th game in the third set when I had three break points,” said Agassi who won the title here in 1999 to become only the fifth man to have won all four Grand Slam titles.
”I caught the tape a couple of times and that was that he stepped up his game and got out of jail.
”Ferrero has a big game and this is his best surface. He hits the forehand from sides of the court and he really moves well around the court. I would say that he’s probably the favourite for this tournament now.
”It feels like an opportunity missed for me, but you have to step up and play better and do your best – he was just better on the day.”
The match had been carried over from Wednesday when only 36 minutes of play had been possible in two sessions with Ferrero having built up a 6-3, 1-0 lead before action had finally been halted because of rain.
When the players returned on Thursday, it was Agassi, who had asked for Wednesday’s suspension, who looked the fresher of the two men and hit back to take the second set 7-5.
Agassi, at 32 the oldest men left in the tournament, had had to come back from two sets to love down in his fourth round match with Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, but this time there was to be no reprieve.
Ferrero broke early in the third set to lead 2-0, but wasted further chances to increase his advantage when he had three more break points at 4-1 and three set points at 5-3 before he allowed Agassi back in, double-faulting to make the score 5-4.
Then the American got the jitters when he had his three chances to break at 5-5 before he finally cracked, losing his serve and the third set 5-7 when he hit a forehand long.
As the fourth set got underway, there was a huge exodus from centre court as hundreds of spectators went off to find TV sets to watch France try and salvage their World Cup campaign.
Agassi’s concentration seemed to follow them out of the exit when he quickly fell two breaks down at 1-5. He managed to delay the inevitable breaking to 2-5 but Ferrero was not to be denied and celebrated victory when Agassi netted a forehand.- Sapa-AFP