31 October 2004	Sunday	16 Ramazan 1425

STOCKHOLM, Oct 30: Andre Agassi did just enough to beat German fourth seed Tommy Haas 7-6 7-6 and reach his first Stockholm Open final on Saturday.

The American top seed will face former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, who beat fellow Swede Michael Ryderstedt 6-3 6-2 in the other semifinal.

Playing in Stockholm for the first time in 10 years, Agassi came back from 3-5 down in the first set to take it to a tiebreak where Haas took a 3-0 lead.

The German former world number two kept his lead to 5-2 but Agassi clawed his way back with some stunning defensive play.

Agassi broke back to 5-4, held his serve, then clinched the tiebreak 7-5 with a passing shot.

Both players held serve in the second but Haas struggled in the tiebreak as Agassi broke him to 2-1 and again to 5-1. Haas broke back once but a backhand down the line earned Agassi three match points.

Haas saved the first one but hit a forehand wide on the next, giving Agassi the tiebreak 7-4.

Results:

Thomas Johansson (Sweden) bt Michael Ryderstedt (Sweden) 6-3 6-2; Andre Agassi (U.S.) bt -Tommy Haas (Germany) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4)

Novak eases into final

BASEL (Switzerland): Unseeded Czech Jiri Novak booked a place in the final of the 989,750-euro ($1.26 million) Swiss Indoors tournament on Saturday with a 6-4 6-0 win over Austria's Stefan Koubek.

Novak, who knocked British world number four Tim Henman out of the tournament on Friday, needed just 50 minutes to see off the Austrian world number 73.

After dropping his first service game, the Czech world number 20 trailed 2-4 in the first set before taking control, a 10-game winning run securing his spot in Sunday's final.

Koubek has lost all five of his meetings with Novak.

Novak will face either Argentinean fourth seed David Nalbandian or Chilean seventh seed Nicolas Massu in the final.

Earlier on Friday World number four Tim Henman was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the 989,750-euro Swiss Indoors tournament, falling 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 to unseeded Czech Jiri Novak.

There was further bad news for Henman when Argentine fourth seed David Nalbandian staged a remarkable quarter-final comeback to beat German sixth seed Rainer Schuettler 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

Nalbandian, who had trailed by a set and a break, needed the win to keep alive his slim chances of overtaking Henman in the race for next month's lucrative Masters Cup finale.

Henman, though, can make sure of a place in the eight-strong Masters Cup field by reaching the quarter-finals at next week's Paris Masters.

Certainly there was little to separate Henman and Novak, but a few stray shots from the Briton coupled with greater Novak efficiency on the break points were enough to see the Czech through.

Novak, who also ended Henman's medal hopes in the first round of the Athens Olympics, will now face Austrian world number 73 Stefan Koubek in the Basel semifinals.

Koubek fought back from a set down on Friday to beat Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic 2-6 7-5 7-5, a win which earned the 27-year-old from Klagenfurt his first ATP semifinal place this year.

The 25-year-old Chilean beat Czech Bohdan Ulihrach 6-2 7-6 (7-4) on Friday to register his best tour result since Athens.

Semifinals results: David Nalbandian (Argentina) bt -Nicolas Massu (Chile) 6-3 6-4; Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) bt Stefan Koubek (Austria) 6-4 6-0.

St Petersburg Open

ST PETERSBURG: Semifinal results from the $1 million St Petersburg Open ATP tennis tournament on Saturday:

Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) bt Greg Rusedski (Britain) 3-6 6-3 6-4; Karol Beck (Slovakia) bt Michael Llodra (France) 6-4 2-6 6-1

WTA results

LINZ (Austria) Oct 3: Semifinal results from the sixth day of the 585,000-dollar WTA tennis tournament on Saturday:

Semifinals: Amelie Mauresmo (FRA) bt Jelena Jankovic (SEM) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; Elena Bovinabt Nadia Petrova (RUS) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/3).-Agencies