Fed Beats Agassi, to Face Henman in ATP Indian Wells Final

Posted on March 22, 2004

Top-ranked Roger Federer came back from a set down to beat Andre Agassi 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals of the ATP stop at Indian Wells on Saturday.

"I think he's proven himself to be a cut above everybody right now," Agassi said. "Roger is the kind of guy who never allows you to get comfortable, no matter what is going on out there."

In the final Federer will face Tim Henman, who swept past rookie Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze 6-3, 6-2. Henman leads Federer 6-1 in their career head-to-head.

"Playing Federer is the toughest challenge in tennis right now," Henman said. "In the past I've caught him on off-days and that gives me confidence. But we will both wipe the slate clean tomorrow and try and show our authority on the court."

Fed will be shooting for his third title of the year, while Henman is going for his first.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Today's final will be top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne against Lindsay Davenport, with H-H going for her first Indian Wells title, and Davenport seeking her third.

"She's been really consistent," said H-H of Davenport. "I watch her match a little bit today and she was serving well, she was moving well, she was confident on her groundstrokes. So I'll have to play a very serious match, a solid game if I want to win. And we could see in our last meetings that we always had tough matches. And again in Australia it's been really hard for me."

In the doubles final, top-seeded Ruano Pascual/Suarez beat back Russians (2)Kuznetsova/Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-2 for their second title of the year after the Australian Open.
 
Lindsay DAVENPORT (USA) vs. Justine HENIN-HARDENNE (BEL)
Davenport leads 5-2
1999 French Open, Clay, R64, DAVENPORT 6-3, 2-6, 7-5  
2000 Canadian Open, Hard, R32, DAVENPORT 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-2  
2000 US Open, Hard, R16, DAVENPORT 6-0, 6-4  
2001 Filderstadt, Hard, F, DAVENPORT 7-5, 6-4  
2002 Zurich, Hard, SF, DAVENPORT 7-6(2), 7-6(5)  
2003 Australian Open, Hard, R16, HENIN-HARDENNE 7-5, 5-7, 9-7
2004 Australian Open, Hard, QF, HENIN-HARDENNE 7-5, 6-3  

ATP TOP 10 WIN PERCENTAGE
Through Sat., March 20 (players still alive at the MS-Indian Wells in bold):

1. Federer, Roger (SUI) 21-1 .955
2. Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS) 15-2 .882
3. Moya, Carlos (ESP) 18-4 .818
4. Roddick, Andy (USA) 20-5 .800
5. Agassi, Andre (USA) 12-3 .800
6. Hrbaty, Dominik (SLO) 18-5 .783
7. Johansson, Joachim (SWE) 10-3 .769
8. Tim Henman (GBR) 13-4 .765
9. Coria, Guillermo (ARG) 12-4 .750
10. Kuerten, Gustavo (BRA) 14-5 .737

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Andy Roddick on getting beat by Tim Henman: "I didn't play horribly. You know, I played pretty well. I gave myself a chance to win there in the second set. He played an amazing game to break up until I duffed that overhead in the third. But to get to Love-40, I mean, there wasn't much I could have done to prevent it. I hit a 113 serve up the T, he kind of hit it like there wasn't a whole lot behind it, came in, you know, hit a clean winner off the next one. Credit goes to him. He just toughed me out."...Tim Henman is ready to put the voodoo on Roger Federer: "Let's hope I'm in his head because I think that would be an advantage to me. My game matches up against him pretty well. He really likes to have time to use his shots and work players around the court. But if I can be aggressive and not give him that time as I've done in the past, I've had some success."