Agassi, Roddick Set for Super Semifinal Showdown

No. 11 seed Andre Agassi endured a rocky first set tie-break, saving six set points, then proceeded to made quick work of No. 4 Carlos Moya in the second set to advance with a 7-6(12), 6-3 victory Friday in quarterfinal play at the Tennis Masters Cincinnati. The win sets up a dream semifinal Saturday night against No. 2 seed Andy Roddick.

"I think Andy is playing, behind Federer, the best tennis out there,” said Agassi who has beaten Roddick in four of five career meetings. “You know, the guy doesn't lose serve very often, so that makes it real difficult. You don't have to be a genius to see that."

Agassi broke Moya in the third game to go up 3-1, but Moya got the break back in the 10th game to set the stage for a classic tie-break, which Agassi won 14-12. In the second set, Agassi broke Moya in the eighth game to go up 5-3, and then saved four break points to close out the win.

"It was certainly a high-standard match,” added Agassi, a two-time winner in Cincinnati. “And, again, coming off a well-executed match yesterday, it couldn't have come at a better time for me, just to build on my foundation right now. It feels good to be hitting the ball that well."

Defending champion Roddick advanced after defeating Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3, for his first victory in five meetings against the German. Roddick fired 11 aces and converted four of seven break points to win for the 25th time in the last 27 matches since June.

Earlier in the day, No. 10 seed Lleyton Hewitt had just three break chances all match against Marat Safin, but the Australian converted two of them to advance to the semifinals for the third time in four years with a 6-4, 6-4 win.

"He gets frustrated if he makes an easy mistake or hits a double-fault or gets a bad line call,” said Hewitt, a former US Open champion. “That's Marat. He's still a great player. You've got to be very wary of him because he's got so many weapons out there."

The fiery Australian will match wits with Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the semifinals. The unseeded Robredo saved nine break points to down Fabrice Santoro 6-2, 6-3 to advance to his second career ATP Masters Series semifinal.