Roddick, Agassi Headed for Showdown at ATP San Jose

Posted on February 15, 2004

Former No. 1s Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi came one step closer to a meeting in the San Jose final on Friday, both winning tightly-contested matches to advance to the semifinals.

Roddick squeaked by former junior nemesis Joachim "Lleyton's Sister's Boyfriend" Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 7-6(7), while Agassi edged fellow American Jan-Mike Gambill 7-6(4), 7-5.

"I've been feeling good rhythm," said Roddick who threw down a best-of-three-sets personal best 27 large in the aces category. "I'm getting the kind of action I want." For Agassi it was his eighth consecutive win over the hapless Gambill.

In the other two quarterfinal matches, American wildcard Robert Kendrick outlasted crafty Frenchman Cyril Saulnier 6-3 in the third, while American Mardy Fish completed the all-American semis with a straight-set win over Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee.

Saturday's semifinals line up as (1)Roddick vs. (WC)Kendrick (first meeting), (2)Agassi vs. (3)Fish (first meeting), and in the doubles semis Braasch-Melzer vs. Blake-Fish, and Coetzee-Haggard vs. (4)Leach-MacPhie. "I never played him (Agassi) before, never hit with him before in my life," said The Fish. "Obviously I've seen him play a few time so I'm excited, that's the first thing that comes to mind. Probably be a little anxious, a little nervous, but I'm going to go out there with the attitude of thinking that I can win and hopefully if I play well and with a little luck, things might go my way."

Friday in Milan degenerated into the all-unseeded semifinals when Frenchman Gregory Carraz ousted defending champion and No. 2 seed Martin "Berzerker" Verkerk, and Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic upset No. 3 Tommy Roberdo in straight sets. Joining them from all-unseeded quarterfinal matches were Swede Thomas "Not Joachim" Johansson (d. Kucera in two tiebreaks) and another Frenchman in Anthony Dupuis (d. Youzhny 7-6 in the third). "Only at 25 years of age I got a coach (Benoit Carelli) and started being serious about playing on the ATP circuit," said the Frenchman Dupuis. "Before that I did not have the dedication."

Saturday's all-unseeded semis are the 30-year-old Dupuis vs. the 28-year-old Carraz in an all-French match-up (Dupuis leads 2-0, both on the challenger circuit), and T.Johansson vs.  Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (in Baby Goran's first career ATP semi, in their first meeting).

It was also upsets-a-plenty Friday at Vina del Mar, where the top-seeded Chilean Nicolas Massu went out in straight sets to No. 4-seeded countryman Fernando "Pound 'Em" Gonzalez, while No. 5 seed Gaston Gaudio was tripped up by unseeded defending champ David Sanchez (after losing their previous four match-ups), and No. 3 Mariano Zabaleta was sent out by Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta.

"It is great to be in semis again here," Sanchez said. "Coming into a tournament to defend a title is never easy, you  always have that pressure that holds you back. After winning the first round against a tough player such as Chela, I released a bit of that pressure, and now, being in the semis I am totally relaxed. I am playing great, feeling strong and will do everything to win."

No. 2 seed Gustavo Kuerten also edged his way into the semifinals, saving a match point against Italy's Filippo Volandri 7-6 in the third.

The Saturday semifinal match-ups will be Sanchez vs. (2)Kuerten and (5)Gonzalez vs. Saretta, both first-time meetings, setting up the potential all-Brazilian final.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Top-seeded Kim Clijsters will contest the Paris-indoor semis with a mixture of the new and old in her company in Russian qualifier Dinara "Little Sis" Safina (d. (5)Schiavone in three), 16-year-old wildcard Tatiana Golovin (d. (2)Elena Dementieva), and veteran Mary Pierce (d. Bovina). Clijsters squeaked by (7)Silvia Farina Elia after trailing 3-6, 2-5.

"Yesterday I played the perfect match (losing one game) but today it was harder," Clijsters said. "Every match is different and that's why I don't get bored playing tennis. I don't know how things will go tomorrow. My left foot is bandaged and sometimes it means I don't get into the ideal position. But I never really thought I would lose the match."

Saturday's semis will be Pierce vs. (WC)Golovin in an all-French affair, and (1)Clijsters vs. (Q)Safina.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
The exodus from the ATP stop in Rotterdam next week includes Greg Rusedski (waiting for the hammer to drop), Mark Philippoussis ("personal reasons" aka 'I choked in Davis Cup and haven't recovered'), Sebastien Grosjean, Jiri Novak, Younes El Aynaoui, and Ivan Ljubicic, all due to injury, general disinterest or career-ending court proceedings...Goran Ivanisevic on Roger Federer: "Federer is a genius, he's got more talent than (Pete) Sampras. I don't know if he'll win as much as Pete, but potentially he's stronger." Goran on his daughter, Amber Maria: "She has revolutionized my existence -- she's extraordinary. She's 10-months old, she's starting to walk.  When she smiles, she's the light of my life."...Paul Haarhuis officially announced his retirement after 14 years on the ATP circuit. The Dutchman, who turns 38 next week on Feb. 19, captured 54 doubles titles during his career, including five Grand Slams and 10 Tennis Masters Series championships. Haarhuis won the Australian and US Open titles in 1994 with countryman Jacco Eltingh, and together they went on to capture Roland Garros in 1995 and '98, the year in which they won Wimbledon and the World Doubles Championship before finishing as the year-end No. 1 doubles team. In singles, Haarhuis captured his lone title in Jakarta in 1995 while reaching seven other finals, including the Tennis Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells in 1996, when he defeated Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals and Goran Ivanisevic in the semis before losing to Michael Chang. He also ended Boris Becker's 22-match Davis Cup winning streak in the 1995 quarterfinal...Former Italian No. 1 players Andrea Gaudenzi and Renzo Furlan have announced their retirements. Gaudenzi, who captured three ATP singles titles in nine finals, is studying for an MBA in sports marketing in Monaco...38-year-old Italian Gianluca Pozzi, who played the qualifying event in Milan but lost to Swiss Ivo "I Dated Hingis" Heuberger in the final round, is keeping busy after opening a tennis center in Milan, the Mediolanum Tennis Academy. "It's a new initiative, we have professional players training at the center as well as junior players," said Pozzi, who will still play a limited schedule this year. "It's very exciting to help and pass on my knowledge and it's great to create a new center where players can train in a professional way outside of tennis clubs."...Coaching changes: Vince Spadea is working with former ATP pro Craig Kardon; Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze is with Mikhail Youzhny's older brother Andrei; Joakim "Lleyton's Sister's Boyfriend" Johansson has been working with countryman and former Thomas Enqvist mentor Mikael Stripple; and Jan-Mike Gambill is working part-time with former USTA coach Nick Saviano...Early word from the British press is that Greg Ruseski will get hammered with a two-year ban next week when the verdict comes out on his drug case, ending his tennis career...From the LA Times: "Coincidentally or not, several pages of anti-doping program data from 2003 materialized -? listed as New! -? on the website of the ATP, which runs men's tennis, detailing in-competition testing, out-of-competition testing and testing of blood samples for EPO. If you want to see how many times U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick or Wimbledon winner Roger Federer or Andre Agassi had to submit to a drug test last year, it's all there."...David Nalbandian has pulled from Buenos Aires next week because of an ankle injury...The French Tennis Federation, coming up short of firing Davis Cup captain Guy Forget, said they "unanimously asked the French Davis Cup captain to stick to his duties and restrict his comments to the mission he has been commissioned to." In other words, don't badmouth the Federation, or kick the best doubles player you've got off the team...Andy Roddick on the serving philosophy: "Brad (Gilbert) wanted me to start using my kick serve a lot more on the outdoor hardcourts last year. He kind of says when you're feeling good, don't think about anything with the serve, just go with your natural gut feeling, but when you're not serving too well then try to mix it up a little bit."...Mardy Fish on facing Andre Agassi for the first time: "I didn't grow up like a normal tennis kid grew up. I grew up obviously, around tennis but didn't really watch it too much, didn't really follow it too much, because I was playing every sport and doing the normal kid thing. I didn't know I was going to be a pro tennis player until I was 17 years old and by then Agassi was Agassi. I could go out there and be a little starstruck, but I can probably bet that I won't just on the fact that I am a competitor and I want to win regardless of who is playing on the other side of the net."..Today is the first all-American semifinal on the ATP circuit since February 2003 in Memphis where Taylor Dent, Andy Roddick, Vincent Spadea and Brian Vahaly advanced to the semis. It is also the first all-American semifinal in San Jose since 1995 when Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Jim Courier and MaliVai Washington reached the final four.