Agassi, Nadal, Coria Advance to ATP Rome Semifinals

"I can't play well every day," Nadal said. "There was a lot of wind and he attacked the net a lot. At 5-4, when I was serving for the (first) set, I didn't play a good game."

Also into the semis were No. 6 Andre Agassi (d. Hrbaty), (9) Guillermo Coria (d. Verdasco from a set down), and unseeded Dave Ferrer (d. (LL) A.Martin, fighting off four match points).

"The conditions were difficult out there today -- the wind was moving everything," said Agassi after downing "The Dominator." "It was important to make as few mistakes as possible."

Ferrer became the only unseeded player in the semis after coming back from a break down in the third against his countryman Martin.

"This year has been very good," Ferrer said. "Now I've got to take advantage of this opportunity."

Lining up in the semifinals will be Ferrer vs. (5) Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal in an all-Spanish (career series tied 1-1), and (9) Guillermo "El Mago" Coria vs. (6) Agassi (Agassi leads 5-1), and in the doubles (3) Bryan/Bryan vs. (2) Bjorkman/Mirnyi, and Frenchmen (8) Llodra/Santoro vs. (5) Bhupathi/Woodbridge.