Agassi Schools Blake in Persistence at US Open

James Blake learned a valuable lesson in the early morning hours of Thursday -- big wins don't just get handed to you.

Wednesday night the American wildcard had legend Andre Agassi in a stranglehold at the US Open, up two sets to love and a break, but found himself on the losing end 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(6) when the clock struck 1:09 a.m. in New York.

"At 1:15 in the morning for 20,000 people to still be here, I wasn't the winner, tennis was," Agassi told the crowd afterwards. "I don't know if I've ever felt this good here before."

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.