WASHINGTON, Aug 18: Top seed Andre Agassi missed his chance for a sixth Washington title when he lost 6-3 6-4 to fellow American James Blake in the semifinals of the Legg Mason Classic on Saturday.
Blake now meets Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan in Sunday’s final.
Blake capitalized on what he called an “off-day” for Agassi, who had struggled on Friday to beat Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist in three sets.
The 22-year-old former Harvard University student dominated the one-hour match, returning the ball as fast and hard as Agassi. He also broke Agassi’s serve three times in the second set.
Earlier, Srichaphan, who knocked Agassi out of Wimbledon in the second round in June, ousted Chile’s Marcelo Rios 3-6 6-2 6-2 in the other semifinal match.
Having won the first set 6-3 in 27 minutes, Rios quickly found himself down 1-5 in the second set after losing serve twice.
Srichaphan noticed Rios was playing slower than in the first set and played more aggressively.
The Thai then broke Rios’s serve three times to go up 4-1 in the third set to eventually take the match.
Rios failed to capitalize on his first serves, winning only 58 percent of them, while Srichaphan won 89 percent of his first serves. Each had three double faults.
Results: (prefix denotes seedings):
Semifinals: 6-James Blake (U.S.) beat 1-Andre Agassi (U.S.) 6-3 6-4; 14-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) beat 5-Marcelo Rios (Chile) 3-6 6-2 6-2
INDIANAPOLIS: Britain’s Greg Rusedski fought his way back from a set down to defeat third seed Tommy Haas 3-6 6-3 6-3 Saturday to reach the final of the Indianapolis Open.
Having claimed the scalps of Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin over the past fortnight, the 14th seeded Briton has the rare distinction of having overcome the top three ranked players in the run up to this month’s U.S. Open.
Rusedski will play Felix Mantilla in the final, after the unseeded Spaniard upset ninth seeded German Rainer Schuettler 6-4 1-6 6-4.
In the semifinal Rusedski could not have made a worse start, losing seven of the first eight points and dropping his serve in the second game.
With German Haas hitting several aces or service winners and conceding just three points on his serve in the first set, Rusedski had no chance to recover the break.
But Rusedski quickly regrouped at the beginning of the second set.
Haas’s serve began to disintegrate, and two consecutive double-faults gave Rusedski a break point for 3-1. Although he missed that chance by putting a forehand wide, two consecutive double-faults followed by a wide volley gave Rusedski a break for 5-3.
Having dropped just three points on his own serve in the second set, Rusedski went into the third with confidence and he gained an early break to lead 2-1 with a fine crosscourt forehand volley.
He was then able to close out the match by breaking again in the final game, winning on his fourth match point.
In the second semifinal Mantilla edged past Schuettler in a thrilling baseline battle that lasted a minute under two hours, with just one break of serve at 2-2 deciding the outcome of the final set.
After taking the first set Mantilla dropped his serve in the opening game of the second and never recovered as Schuettler forced the match into a decider.
Results:
Semi-finals: Felix Mantilla (Spain) beat 9-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 6-4 1-6 6-4; 14-Greg Rusedski (Britain) beat 3-Tommy Haas (Germany) 3-6 6-3 6-3
MONTREAL: Second seed Jennifer Capriati advanced to a showdown against Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo in the Canadian Open final after her semifinal opponent, Yugoslav Jelena Dokic, retired with a strained right thigh Saturday.
Mauresmo had to battle harder for her spot in the final of the $1.2 million tournament, a warm-up for the US Open in nine days, as Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova forced a tie-break in the second set, but finally lost 6-2 7-6.
Seventh seed Mauresmo sailed through the first set with a powerful service game against the eighth seeded Hantuchova.
The 19-year-old Slovakian upped her game in the second set, but could not convert two set points in the 12th game before falling to Mauresmo in the tie break.
Results:
Semifinals: Jennifer Capriati (USA x2) bt Jelena Dokic (Yug x3) 7-6 (7/5), 4-0 ret; Amelie Mauresmo (Fra x7) bt Daniela Hantuchova (Svk x8) 6-2, 7-6(7/3).—Reuters/AFP