Agassi, Safin Advance to SF Meeting at ATP Madrid

Posted on October 23, 2004

No. 2 seed Andre Agassi (d. (8) Robredo in three) and No. 3 Marat Safin (d. Luis "Me So" Horna) advanced to a semifinal meeting Saturday at the ATP Masters Series-Madrid.

A semifinal win would give Agassi a leg up in qualifying among the Top 8 for the year-end Masters Cup in Houston.

"I think Houston is certainly an accomplishment, if I can somehow do that," Agassi said. "But it's a result of me playing my best tennis. I mean, you can't win these matches unless you play your best. Playing in the (Masters Cup) so many times, I've learned the only way to get there is to sort of keep your head down with each match."

The second semifinal will be No. 4 seed David Nalbandian (d. Dent) against unseeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic (d. (7) Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson in three tiebreaks with no breaks of serve).

"Everybody knows that I can play well on indoor courts," Ljubicic said. "I mean, if I beat (Rainer) Schuettler and (Tim) Henman back to back, Joachim (Johansson), I don't see why I cannot go all the way. I feel like I have a game for everybody almost."

All three of the seeds in the semifinals are contending for the final four spots at the year-end Masters Cup in Houston.

Saturday's semifinals are Ljubicic vs. (4) Nalbandian (first meeting), and (3) Safin vs. (2) Agassi (the American leads 3-2, but Safin won their most recent encounter in five sets ay this year's Aussie Open). The doubles final is Czechs Damm/Suk vs. Americans (2) Bryan/Bryan.