All-American semifinal at Siebel Open - 網球

All-American semifinal at Siebel Open

By JANIE McCAULEY, AP Sports Writer
February 14, 2004

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Andre Agassi withstood one of Jan-Michael Gambill's
best efforts in months, and in one of Gambill's favorite settings.

The thing is, Agassi is even better here.

Agassi outlasted his fellow American 7-6 (4), 7-5 in a sensational slugfest
Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Siebel Open, a match that featured
31 aces, 45 winners and just as many breathtaking rallies.

``I could have made it a little easier on myself if I'd converted a few of
my early chances,'' said Agassi, in the semifinals of this tournament for
the 11th time in 12 appearances.

``It was good toe-to-toe tennis, but tougher than I wanted it.''

Both players held serve until Agassi broke in the final game of the match.
The 33-year-old Agassi, seeded second and a five-time winner in the Bay
area, has beaten Gambill eight straight times dating to Scottsdale in 1999,
when Agassi retired in the first set of their semifinal match with a right
hamstring strain.


Gambill kept the world's No. 3 player off balance with his powerful serve-
and-volley game, which led to many quick points on his serve. But Gambill
had to go to deuce nine times to win his first three service games, including
five deuces in the opening game of the match. The game lasted 16 minutes.

Agassi, who beat Gambill in the 2001 semifinals of this tournament, advances
to the second semifinal Saturday against Mardy Fish, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over
Hyung-Taik Lee in the late match Friday. The early semi is between top-seeded
Andy Roddick and wild-card entry Robert Kendrick.

This is the first all-American semifinal since 1995 -- featuring Agassi,
MaliVai Washington, Jim Courier and Michael Chang.

Playing Agassi will be new to Fish.

``I've never played with him and I've never hit with him before in my life,''
Fish said. ``Obviously I've seen him play a few times. I'm excited. I'll
probably be a little anxious, but I'm going to go out with the attitude I
can win.''

Gambill pounded 20 aces to Agassi's 11, and hit 45 winners. Gambill converted
21 of his 27 chances at the net, but missed all five first serves in the
tiebreaker.

``I was intense,'' Gambill said. ``I got in a groove where I didn't care
what the score was and couldn't care less who was on the other side of the
court. Unfortunately, I missed five serves in a row in the tiebreaker. That's
the worst. I wasn't more nervous or antsy. I just missed them.''

According to Agassi's assessment, Gambill hit three bad shots: a forehand
long, a backhand into the net and a forehand wide on match point.

Earlier Friday, Roddick beat Sweden's Joachim Johansson 6-3, 7-6 (7).


--