Agassi, Haas Ousted at ATP Houston

The ATP stop in Houston lost its No. 2 and 3 seeds Friday when Andre Agassi was steamrolled in the second and third sets by No. 6 seed Sebastien Grosjean 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Tommy Haas was outlasted by No. 7 Jurgen Melzer 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

"It was a good first set, then he picked up his level and changed his strategy a little and started hitting it pretty high and pretty deep, and I couldn't step up on it," Agassi said. "I made some bad decisions followed by some bad swings."

Grosjean said he tried to hang with the former No. 1 until he could get his footing in the match.

"In the first set I wasn't playing that well and Andre was playing better," Grosjean said. "I just tried to play all the points and never think about the shots that I missed. I served pretty well and that allowed me to stay ahead."

The defending champ Haas held serve to begin the third set against Melzer before suffering a collapse that including losing 12 of the next 13 points.

Top-seeded Andy Roddick overcame an early challenge to cruise past No. 8-seeded Luis Horna 6-4, 6-1.

"That's probably the best match I've served this year," said Roddick who threw down 14 aces. "I was hitting my spots. I was getting good action and I was able to hit all my serves today. I felt good about it. I was in control of it and I set the tone."

Roddick is now one match away from his fifth consecutive berth in the Houston final.

Also into the semis was qualifier Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, who edged American wildcard James Blake 7-6 in the third set Friday night.

The former Anna Kournikova boy-toy entered Houston with a 1-4 record in tour play in 2005, and finds himself in his first ATP semifinal in almost two years.

On tap Saturday at Houston are (1) Roddick vs. (7) Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (A-Rod has beaten Tuna Melt in all three of their career meetings without dropping a set), (Q) N.Lapentti vs. (6) Grosjean (Frenchman leads 7-1), and in the doubles (1) Knowles/Nestor vs. Fisher/Haggard and Cibulec/Fyrstenberg vs. Garcia/Horna.