Agassi's hope executed by young gun

TENNIS/French Open: Given Andre Agassi arrived in Paris last week as Australian Open champion, it would be premature to begin writing obituaries for the 33-year-old as he departed yesterday.

But yesterday would also have had a resonance for the older player, as his opponent, Argentinian Guillermo Coria, was almost 12 years his junior.

Coria took on the American at his own game of running every ball down and of passing him down the wings. Not brawny enough to possess the power for a big service game, Coria faced off Agassi with speed and anticipation and, in a similar way to that which has won the American so much over the years, he beat him at it 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Last year when the eight-times Grand Slam champion lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter-final, he left the stadium furious for not having pushed his game to the level required to advance. It was a different scene last night. Serene and philosophical, Agassi took defeat as you would expect of a player who has being playing professionally since 1986. He was beaten by an opponent who, as acknowledged by Agassi, "executed" his game better on the night.

"He's a good mover," said Agassi. "No question. It gives him lots of options. He's a good decision maker too. Today he was hitting a variety of shots and making good decisions too. He was better. He was at home out there and deserved to win the match."

Agassi, with more career wins at Roland Garros than Bjorn Borg, will view Wimbledon as the tournament that could offer him the Grand Slam win he seeks. Watched on court by pregnant wife Steffi Graf, their combined knowledge of grass is hardly matched but the pair must be thinking of the lack of practice time on clay Agassi devoted to the tournament. Running the dunes in Las Vegas is a punishing routine but it was also Agassi's clay-court savvy that deserted him on centre court.

Coria, playing in his first Grand Slam quarter-final, took four hours 42 minutes against Mario Zabaleta, the longest match of the tournament to date, to earn his shot at Agassi, who was his childhood idol.

"I'd rather not be his idol and play him on a hard court than be his idol and play him on clay," said Agassi. "On this surface he's out there with the best of them. Today I couldn't quite play it on my terms. That had nothing to do with anything other than the way he was hitting the ball. His strength is his use of speed, both offensively and defensively. His weakness is that you'll always have a chance off his service game."

Three service breaks to two from Coria gave Agassi a slender lead for a 6-4 first set. Earning eight break points in the second set, Coria took two of them for 6-3 then swept to a 2-1 lead with a 6-2 third set. Again Coria was controlled, capitalising on two of the four break-points earned.

With Agassi, an ability to climb back is one of his enduring qualities and although he frustratingly pushed some easy volleys into the net, it was Coria's fetching that kept him in the match and his passing shots that finally won it.

"He was hitting it up the line real well. He must have made 15 in a row there between the second and third set," said Agassi.

Coria, who won the junior tournament here in 1999, next faces unseeded Dutchman Martin Verkerk. The shortest player will meet the tallest in the draw. Verkerk succeeded in becoming only the fifth man in the Open era to reach the semi-finals in his first attempt when he defeated former champion Carlos Moya.

Agony for Moya but unforeseen success for Verkerk, who won his first Grand Slam tournament match with his first-round win here, then won the first five-set match of his career in the second round. He joins Tom Okker and Richard Krajicek as the only Dutch players ever to get to a semi-final.

"It's unbelievable I'm in the semi-final," said Verkerk. "I have to focus and be professional but I don't realise yet what I've done."