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Agassi in semis, Rafter dumped

Andre Agassi maintained his winning streak, defeating Sandon Stolle of Australia 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in just over an hour to advance into the semifinals of the Mercedes Cup, now on in Los Angeles.

Agassi won his ninth straight match without dropping a set, since Wimbledon. The streak includes a title last week in Washington, where his matches lasted an average of 59 minutes.

Tennis legend John McEnroe said recently that he didn't think Agassi had what it took to last through a tournament of five setters, but thus far, the ability, or lack of it, hasn't been put to the test. The game against Stolle took an hour and 20 minutes -- slow by his recent standards.

"I tend to walk quick," the Las Vegan said, when asked of his propensity to rush points, "but when it comes time to serve, I slow it down. I don't think I rush it out there."

Agassi didn't take the court till late evening, since the earlier games lasted three sets. By the time Agassi was ready to play, the sun was going down and towering trees on the UCLA campus cast long shadows across the court.

"You can't see the ball at that time of day," Agassi said. "My game is centered on hitting the ball clean, and I didn't have any confidence in that first set that I could swing and hit it cleanly."

Agassi's coach, Brad Gilbert, came on court during the first changeover of the second et, part of the ATP tour's experiment with coaching during matches. This tournament, in fact, is the final phase of the experiment, spread over five tournaments.

"He was trying to get me to swing out on my shots, because I couldn't see too good in the shadows," Agassi later explained.

Immediately after Gilbert's pep talk, Agassi broke Stolle to take a 2-0 lead. He then fought off a triple break point, and went ahead 4-1.

Stolle, whose father Fred won the doubles title here in 1968 with Ken Rosewall, then held serve. But Agassi in his turn held with an ace, then broke Stolle to take the set and with it, the match.

Agassi will now meet Justin Gimelstob, who upset top seeded Patrick Rafter 6-4, 6-3.

Gimelstob closed out the first set with a forehand crosscourt return, then aced Rafter to take a 4-1 lead in the second set. The Aussie held serve and broke back to trail 4-3. But Gimelstob, a former collegiate doubles champion at UCLA before turning pro in 1996, regained the break on a Rafter double fault to go ahead 5-3.

Gimelstob blew a triple match point, then survived two deuces however before Rafter netted a forehand service return to give the match away.

"It's just another loss," said Rafter, who has to defend his US Open title against a hungry Pete Sampras later this month. "Life goes on. I'm still hitting well, so I am not too discouraged."

Gimelstob was cheered on my UCLA students, all of whom know the player from his own student days on this campus.

"I'm not shocked, I am excited," he said. "I have been working hard, preparing myself to win that kind of match, it's proof that I am ready to take the next step."

That step is Agassi.

"I know he wants a piece of me," said Gimelstob who, this time last year, accounted for Agassi in the opening round of this tournament.

In other quarterfinal action, number two seed Tim Henman beat number seven Byron Black 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 while Guillaume Raoux of France outplayed local favourite Michael Joyce 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-5.