Schuettler ousts Agassi
ByReuters
Published 09/08/2003 at 09:35 GMT
German eighth seed Rainer Schuettler battled to a revenge win over Andre Agassi as he rallied from a set down to beat the world number one 2-6 6-2 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Montreal Masters on Friday.
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Image credit: Eurosport
In Saturday's semi-finals, Schuettler lines up against Argentina's David Nalbandian who eased to a 6-4 6-4 victory over Spain's Feliciano Lopez in a night match.
The pair joined Roger Federer and Andy Roddick in the last four, who earlier recorded straight-set victories to set up an intriguing contest between two of the sport's most popular young players.
In a rematch of the Australian Open final, Schuettler was able to turn the tables on Agassi and resisted the American's baseline assaults with brilliant cross-court passing shots.
After a poor opening set, Schuettler picked up his level of play in the second to take his first ever set off Agassi for the loss of just two games.
Inspired by his success, the 27-year-old German sent Agassi scurrying around the court in the third set, which he closed out for an upset victory.
"He made some mistakes but I think I played very well," Schuettler said.
Agassi had crushed Shuettler in three quick sets in their last meeting in Australia to claim his eighth grand slam title, but he felt powerless on Friday.
"He just got the better of me, he made me miss a few shots and then stepped up on the big points," Agassi said.
Agassi, who was the top seed of the Cincinnati Masters next week, announced that he was pulling out of the event after his defeat to Schuettler.
"I feel like I have had enough matches so I'm just going to go freshen up and train a little bit and get myself energetic for the Open," the two-time winner in New York said.
FAULTLESS FEDERER
Federer breezed past doubles partner Max Mirnyi 6-2 7-6 to set up a Wimbledon rematch against Roddick.
The third seeded Swiss played flawless tennis against his Belarussian opponent, who never came close to breaking the Wimbledon champion's serve.
To mark his 22nd birthday, Federer received a racket-shaped cake from tournament organisers after notching his 57th win of the season, the most on the men's circuit.
The Swiss is poised to become the new leader of the ATP Champions Race after second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero lost in the third round against Karol Kucera.
However, the world number 41-ranked Slovakian's run came to end against sixth seed Roddick 7-6 6-3.
Roddick was expecting a tough match against the 29 year-old Kucera, but the 20 year-old American had little trouble advancing to his fifth consecutive semi-final.
The match-up against Federer will be a daunting one for Roddick, who has yet to beat the Swiss player in their four previous meetings.
"He's played better than anyone else over the past couple of months, so I'll have my work cut out and need to step up a level from today if I'm going to win," Roddick said.
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