Agassi Wins Classic, Davenport and Mauresmo Out at US Open

Agassi weathered a flurry of winners from Blake in the first two sets, with even Blake's weaker wing, the one-handed backhand, producing point-ending exclamations. Agassi knew he had to wait it out, but given Blake's sterling play it didn't look like he would be given the opportunity.

"James is a guy that runs on high octane," Agassi said. "He's a fighter jet. He burns the fuel fast and furious. He's gotten much better with that over the years, but he plays so big and he's so fast that if an edge does come off, it's a big relief. He flies around the court. I put him over anybody on the tour in the straight 100 meters (dash)."

Blake finally fell out of his tree in the third set, giving back his break and letting Agassi work his way into the match. In the fifth set, Blake broke Agassi for a 3-2 lead, then had a chance to serve out the match at 5-4 but Agassi stuck a couple returns to level things at 5-5 before eventually taking the breaker.

"When you see a little bit of that edge off, when he comes down into just warp speed, it gives you a little breath of life," Agassi said of his comeback. "This is what you work so hard for. It's just authentic competition. Letting it fly and letting it just be about tennis."

Blake's career record in five-set matches is now 0-6.

"I fought my heart out, did everything I could," Blake said. "He played a little too good. He really started going for broke on some of those, and champions make those. I'm happy for the game of tennis. This match was hyped four or five days ago and I feel like at least it lived up to it."

Agassi will now face unseeded American Robby Ginepri, who continued his Cinderella run with a five-set 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 win over No. 8 seed Guillermo Coria, guaranteeing an American in the final.

"Right now I'm struggling. Pretty beat up. This match was rough," an exhausted Ginepri said. "He made a lot of balls. We were both running each other side to side. Other two five set matches definitely didn't help this match out...definitely wasn't looking for another five-set match today. It takes its toll on the body. Luckily, I have two days off to get ready for Saturday's match."

Coria threw in his 13th and 14th double faults of the match on the last two points to hand Ginepri his third consecutive five-set win.

"The last three matches took so much out of me, I'm just dead right now," said Ginepri on-court after the match, with his dehydrated delirium giving way to a rare outburst of personality. "I don't know how I got through that match. I don't know what's going on right now. I'm a little foggy, a little dizzy. It's crazy! Crazy!"

Coria survived five match points before the double-fault yard sale.

"I was losing feeling on the hand," Coria said in Spanish in his post-match conference. "It has been happening for four days. I had a lot of treatment...but during the match, the more I serve, the more it gets tight -- the forearm, the shoulder. I knew it could happen. That's just the way it is."

In the first men's doubles semifinal Wednesday, No. 2 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan came from a set down to defeat Paul Goldstein and Jim Thomas 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in an all-American match-up.

Scheduled for Thursday are the two remaining singles quarterfinals in (1) Federer vs. (11) Nalbandian and (3) Hewitt vs. Nieminen, and a doubles semifinal in (1) Bjorkman/Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Zimbabwe's (4) Black/Ullyett.

Former No. 1s Davenport, Mauresmo Stunned at US Open

Former No. 1s Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo brought less than their best tennis to the courts Wednesday at the US Open, both making quarterfinal exits at the year's last slam, with Davenport's exit making for an American-less semifinals.

The No. 2-seeded Davenport fell 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6) to No. 6 seed and 2004 runner-up Elena Dementieva, never looking comfortable in the match-up and missing wildly when trying to deliver knock-out blows. To her credit the American still made a match of it, coming from a set and a break down to force a third-set breaker.

At one point both players lost their serve by double faulting on game point in consecutive games in the midst of the often-ugly display.

"I felt like a lot of it had to do with me," Davenport said. "I just felt like I was making errors on balls I didn't need to make errors on. I was never really in control of points...(I'm) just annoyed. You obviously want to play a little bit better than what I played in a quarterfinal match."

Davenport went down a break at 3-4 in the third, but immediate broke back and held for 5-4. Dementieva then held and broke for 6-5.

Serving at 6-5 Dementieva quickly went down 0-40 after a couple errors and a double fault, bringing the game to 30-40 after a couple uncharacteristically-big serves, then double faulting again to give up the game.

In the tiebreak Davenport came back from 2-5 to earn a match point at 6-5, but Dementieva slapped a gutsy inside-out forehand for a winner to even things at 6-6. Dementieva played a short ball for a rare drop shot winner for 7-6, then capped a long rally with a backhand winner for the win.

"That means a lot to me," Dementieva said. "She's the No. 1 player in the world. It makes me feel that I can compete against such good players and I can achieve my goal to be No. 1 one day. Playing against Lindsay here in New York with the crowd support for her...it wasn't an easy match. I think that I could stay true and finish that well, it really meant a lot to me."

It is the second straight US Open semifinal for Dementieva, in 2004 losing the final to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Dementieva will now face Mary Pierce, who followed up her upset of Justine Henin-Hardenne with another big win Wednesday, beating French countrywoman Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-1 with another confident baseline-bashing display.

"It's amazing, I'm 30 and this is my 17th year on the tour and there are still firsts for me. That's pretty exciting," said the trigger-pulling Pierce.

Pierce dictated play just as she did against Henin-Hardenne, while Mauresmo looked unprepared in a match featuring two of the women's tour's veteran big-match chokers. Mauresmo broke back to level things at 4-5 on serve in the first, but then threw in two tight doubles faults to hand Pierce the first set before getting rolled in the second.

For Pierce it was a rival turn-around, stopping a four-match losing streak against Mauremso.

"I'm just feeling so great," Pierce said. "It's pretty special, it's pretty neat. I feel God has blessed me with this gift."

For the 26-year-old Mauresmo it was her last chance in 2005 to lift her first slam trophy.

"It's a disappointment obviously," Mauresmo said. "It's hard for me when I play players who hit hard right from the start. She just played a better match than me today. Mary when she plays like that can beat anyone."

Pierce has now beaten two Top 10 players at the Open without dropping a set thus far.

"I think I'm definitely all-around a better athlete and a competitor, with experience and maturity," Pierce said. "Mentally I'm stronger."

Upsets in the doubles quarterfinals Wednesday were orchestrated by (7) Groenefeld/M.Navratilova (d. (2) Kuznetsova/Molik from a set down) and (6) Raymond/Stosur (d. (1) Black/Stubbs from a set down).

"That was an unbelievable match, period," Navratilova said. "It was so tight the whole time. We could have won the first set, lost it. We could have lost the second set, won it. The third one was very, very tight. Some breakpoints against them. They had some break points against us. Just nobody could get ahead. It was tight all the way through. So that was an exciting match to win, period. And to do it on this stadium in the quarterfinals, it's sweet."

No women's singles or doubles play is scheduled for Thursday at the US Open, with the women's semis on Friday. Today's mixed-troubles final features Katarina Srebotnik/Nenad Zimonjic vs. Daniela Hantuchova/Mahesh Bhupathi.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Venus Williams gave a bizarre number of 'Venus Land' answers to questions following her loss to Kim Clijsters. Here's Venus avoiding the question of if she was winded or out of shape in the third set against Clijsters: "Well, I mean, she likes to play really fast, and I don't like to play really fast really. I like to take my time, take a lot of deep breaths. I feel like it's very therapeutic. Some methods are just different, but I think still very effective." Venus on if Clijsters can win the US Open: "I just don't know. I don't know the future. I would have said that I would have won the match, if I had known the future correctly, so I didn't." Venus on the "hip injury" she suffered in the third set against Clijsters, the injury she didn't call the trainer for: "Yeah, I just was having a sharp pain and it was just making me slow. You know, it makes you not want to move. It was like a mental thing also, like knowing you go there, you're gonna get that. You know, it's just...it's sports." Venus on whether she could now root for Clijsters: "I do root for Serena Williams, but obviously -- maybe she should have won the match we played. But in any case, umm, after this, I'll just lay low, I think. I think I deserve that." We needed John McEnroe in that press conference to sit on the sidelines periodically yelling "Answer the question!"...One of Dominik Hrbaty's pink shirts will be auctioned for hurricane relief at TennisKatrina.com...Nicolas Massu wants an apology from Guillermo Coria for accusing him of faking an injury during their US Open match, according to ESPN. "If Coria comes to me with an apology, I will talk to him, but I will tell him that he was wrong," Massu said after arriving home in Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday...Martina Navratilova on the ATP doubles changes -- which if successful will undoubtedly be copied by the WTA, which follows most of the men's changes: "I think they're just trying to get rid of doubles and they're doing it slowly. It started with the mixed doubles third-set tiebreak, which is total 'bs.' I've been talking to the USTA people about that a couple years ago, and they said, "Oh, the fans like it." That is such bullshit. I have never heard bigger bullshit in my life. Every time there's a third set, people are yelling. "Play it out, play it out." We played a tiebreak two days ago and people were like, "What's the score?" They couldn't figure it out, we were playing a (super) tiebreak (up to 10). Then at 7-5, the guy jumped up because he thought we won the match. People don't understand it. It started with the mixed doubles, now they're doing it with the doubles. I think it's a mistake...I completely agree with the (ATP) players because they had no say in the matter. The players are against it. The fans are against it. They want to see doubles. It's just a very near-sighted decision by the tournament promoters."...Jarkko Nieminen is the first Finn in the quarters of the US Open...Patrick McEnroe announcing the U.S. Davis Cup team Wednesday at the US Open: "Without further ado, the team will be comprised of Andy Roddick, James Blake, Robby Ginepri, and Bob and Mike Bryan. We're taking a five-man team over there, including two practice partners who will be Sam Querrey from California and Alex Clayton of Florida. They're going to be traveling over to Belgium." Why bring the bassist for U2?...Roger Federer is 18-10 career against Argentines with a 10-match winning streak...David Nalbandian is 11-20 career against Top 10 opponents...From Guillermo Coria's translator: "He has been having problems with the nerve that doesn't allow him to grip very hard. He was losing feeling on the hand. This has been happening for four days. He had a lot of treatment during the four days, but during the match, the more he serves, the more it gets tight, the forearm, the shoulder. He knew it could happen. That's just the way it is." El Mago underwent shoulder surgery last year and missed the US Open...Zimbabweans Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett have become the third team to qualify for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup-Shanghai doubles, joining American twins Bob and Mike Bryan and first-year partners Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi...From the blogging Charlie Bricker on Venus Williams after losing to Kim Clijsters: ""She definitely played the best today," said Williams. And then she added, ingraciously: "She started playing really badly, and it totally threw me off. She started hitting these really weird shots and short balls and just weird stuff. Next thing I knew, I was playing as badly as she was, and she was able to recover. I just wasn't." This remark was totally out of character for Williams, and I'm giving her the benefit of saying this at an emotional moment. She's too good to make that kind of crack. It reminds you of the star club player who loses to the hacker who hits nothing but spins and slices and then, rather than congratulate the guy, rips him for his "garbage" shots."" -- Totally out of character? When has a Williams sister not lost and pinned it on their bad play, opponent's luck, position of the stars, etc.?...Tennisreporters.net's Matt Cronin, formerly accused of too much huffing out of the just-opened tennis can with his US Open predictions, is now revelling in his Mary Pierce pick: "So now, all of you who doubted the prediction that Mary Pierce could compete for the US Open title can eat a small can of crow." Cronin then goes hammer-time on Martina Navratilova: "I've never been a big fan of Martina Navratilova's off court persona. She's hyper aggressive with the press, largely intolerant and often selfish. Other than standing up for gay rights (which relates to herself) and vegetarianism (which is about her choices, too). How she ever got the reputation of being a progressive person is beyond me. True progressives are pleasant, thoughtful folks who are concerned about the feelings of those people with which they come in contact. Like a number of people on the left (and I've been there for a long time,) she's great when she's supporting the causes of people that she's never met. But, for example, if the ball kids ever went on strike because the players were abusing them too much, she'd be the first clamoring for the hiring of replacement workers. Who would bring her two white towels? That is not just my opinion, but the opinion of many other folks I've spoken to in the past. But, she is beloved by many fans and does have some well though out opinions on the sport..." Wow, we'd like to see that cage match, Cronin gives up 10-15 pounds to Martina to begin with, that would be a pay-per-view, best-of-three pins on the mat (or Matt)...Giles Smith for the Times Online: "Credit Mary Pierce, at least, with clarifying one aspect of the ballperson's increasingly burdensome lot. We have, until now, lacked a suitable gesture that a player can make to a ballperson, to mean 'bring me my towel'. Players have contented themselves with pointing at the towel, often with the racket head, which is casual and abrupt, to say the least. At Flushing Meadows, though, Pierce has been working on a florid, almost balletic hand gesture in which, with elegantly spread fingers and chin tipped back, she mimes the wiping of her face with sweeping, circular motions. The effect is thrillingly regal and diva-like, placing Pierce somewhere between Cleopatra and J-Lo. At least the ballpersons know where they are."