Kafelnikov, Grosjean through

Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Sebastien Grosjean reached the Masters Cup semifinals on Thursday as Andre Agassi bowed out of the race to be year-end world number one.

Grosjean ended Agassi's bid to become the oldest man in history to finish the year as No. 1 with a 6-3 6-4 victory, while Kafelnikov beat Goran Ivanisevic by the identical score.

They will meet in Saturday's semifinals, and Ivanisevic plays Juan Carlos Ferrero on Friday to decide who faces U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt in the second semi-final.

Hewitt is already guaranteed his spot regardless of how he fares in Friday's match against fellow Australian Patrick Rafter, while Ferrero stayed in contention with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Gustavo Kuerten.

Kuerten's loss ended his chances of reaching the semifinals and also dented the Brazilian's fading hopes of retaining the the top ranking from Hewitt, who is now poised to become the youngest number one in history.

The 20-year-old will finish the year on top if he makes the final, or if he beats Rafter on Friday and Kuerten loses to Kafelnikov.

Kuerten has won only one match since the U.S. Open in September and is so badly out of form that he is almost resigned to relinquishing his crown to the feisty young Aussie.

"If Lleyton gets the number one, it will be well deserved," Kuerten said. "He's been playing the best tennis in the last two or three months."

DROPPED OUT

Agassi was the only other player at the season-ending tournament with a mathematical chance of finishing No.1 but the 31-year-old dropped out of contention with his loss to Grosjean.

The Australian Open champion admitted his recent marriage to seven times Wimbledon champion Steffi Graf and the birth to their first child last month had been a distraction but was not the reason he played below par.

"Overall it's been a great year," Agassi said. "But if you're not at your best and you're playing the best, then they can expose you."

Grosjean, who only squeezed into the elite eight-man field by winning the recent Paris Masters, is in the best form of his career.

He took the first set in 34 minutes when he broke Agassi in the sixth game, then took his serve again in the fifth game of the second set to open a commanding lead.

Grosjean wasted a string of match points in his five-set loss to Arnaud Clement in this year's Australian Open semifinal and there was a hint he might do it again when he squandered three match-points against Agassi.

But this time the Frenchman regained his composure to hold serve and clinch victory after 71 minutes.

Kafelnikov was in scintillating form as he brushed past Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic in just over an hour.

The Russian, who won the gold medal at last year's Sydney Olympics just a short stroll from the SuperDome, did not make a single unforced error in the first set and committed just five mistakes in the match.

"I don't remember the last time someone kicked my arse so bad," Ivanisevic said.

ONE-WAY STREET

"It was like he was the driver and I was the co-pilot and we were driving on a one-way street to Russia not Croatia."

Kuerten was unrecognisable from the player who won last year's Masters Cup to finish the season as No. 1 and captured a third French Open this year, cutting a forlorn figure as he trudged off court after losing to Ferrero in less than an hour and a half.

The clay-court specialist has won only one match since the U.S. Open in September and never found his rhythm against Ferrero as he committed a string of unforced errors.

"I was frustrated because I was losing and nobody likes to lose," he said. "I don't know if I played better or not but I felt I was more in the game."

Ferrero is ranked fourth in the world and has no chance of finishing number one but the Spaniard made it clear he still wants to end the year on a high by winning the elite eight-man event.

He jumped to a 4-1 lead and held two break-points for 5-1 but briefly lost his way as Kuerten fought back to 4-4 to force the first set into a tiebreak.

Ferrero lifted his game in the tiebreaker, though, to win it 7-3, then dropped just two games in the second set to seal an easier than expected victory.

"I played more aggressive than I did the other day. I think I needed a match like this," Ferrero said.