|
|
| November 16, 2001 | Friday | Shaba'an 29, 1422 |
Grosjean and Kafelnikov in semifinals
SYDNEY, Nov 15: Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Sebastian Grosjean advanced to the semifinals of the Masters Cup on Thursday as Andre Agassi bowed out of the race to finish the year ranked number one in the world.
Grosjean ended Agassi’s bid to become the oldest man in history to finish the year as No. 1 with a 6-3 6-4 victory at Sydney’s SuperDome.
The Frenchman will now meet Kafelnikov in Saturday’s semifinals after the Russian beat Goran Ivanisevic 6-3 6-4.
Ivanisevic will play Juan Carlos Ferrero on Friday for a place in the semifinals against Lleyton Hewitt after Ferrero beat current world number one Gustavo Kuerten 7-6 6-2.
Kuerten’s loss finished his own hopes of reaching the semifinals and also dented his chances of retaining his top ranking, with Hewitt now poised to become the youngest No.1 in history.
The Australian will finish the year on top if he makes the final, or if he beats Patrick Rafter on Friday and Kuerten loses to Kafelnikov.
Almost resigned to losing his ranking, the badly-out-of-form Kuerten said: “If Lleyton gets the number one, it will be well deserved.
Agassi was the only other player at the season-ending tournament with a mathematical chance of finishing No.1 but the 31-year-old dropped out of contention with his loss to Grosjean.
The Frenchman only squeezed into the elite eight-man field by winning the recent Paris Masters and he continued his great form with a surprisingly comfortable win.
He took the first set in 34 minutes when he broke Agassi in the sixth game, then broke him again in the fifth game of the second set to open a commanding lead.
Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding)
Ken Rosewall Group 4-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat 1-Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2; 5-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia) beat 8-Goran Ivanisevic (Croatia) 6-3 6-4
John Newcombe group 7-Sebastian Grosjean (France) beat 3-Andre Agassi (U.S.) 6-3 6-4—Reuters
|
|
