Agassi Plays Well, but Federer Just Plays a Lot Better
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By SANDRA HARWITT
The New York Times
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla., April 1
Andre Agassi played impressive tennis and stuck to Roger Federer, the world's No. 1 player, as if he were glued to him during their semifinal of the Nasdaq-100 Open on Friday night.
But for Agassi, that was not quite enough of an effort to disrupt Federer's near-invincible talent. In a stadium packed with Agassi fans, Federer pulled off a 6-4, 6-3 victory. He will play 18-year-old Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final on Sunday. Nadal beat David Ferrer of Spain, also by 6-4, 6-3, in the earlier semifinal.
''I think he played really well and I had to come up with the right shots at the right time tonight,'' Federer said. ''I really felt the heat out here tonight.''
The victory improved Federer's career record over Agassi to 7-3, and Federer has won their last seven meetings. Playing in his 20th year on the men's tour, Agassi, who will turn 35 on April 29, has never lost seven consecutive matches to any opponent.
Agassi has played this tournament for 19 consecutive years and advanced to the semifinals nine times. Before Friday night's defeat, he had advanced to the final on all but one of those occasions. He has won the tournament six times. After the match, he praised the fans. ''They were certainly electric tonight,'' he said. ''I'm just disappointed I couldn't deliver a bit more.''
Federer, 23, has a 48-1 record since the beginning of the 2004 United States Open. He has won four tournaments this year, and his only loss came in the semifinals of the Australian Open in January, when he lost to the eventual champion, Marat Safin.
Agassi, an eight-time Grand Slam champion, became the latest player to find himself at a loss in trying to find a weakness in Federer's game.
''He's playing levels above everybody else; he's proved that for a while now,'' Agassi said. ''You can play a quality match, but he has the ability at any given moment to play spectacular tennis and break something open.''
Agassi's most helpless moment came as he tried to exploit Federer in the seventh game of the second set. Agassi was ahead, 0-40, and eventually had five break points in the game, but he could not win it.
Taking a risk at 0-40, Agassi went for a screeching backhand that landed just beyond the baseline. He then watched Federer serve two aces to even the score at deuce.
''It was the right shot to play, and he missed it by just a little bit,'' Federer said of Agassi's attempt to hit a backhand winner to break serve. ''After he missed that, then I hoped, hopefully, I'll get a couple of good serves here, and I'd be back in the game and it's going to haunt him to have gone for so much.''
Serving in the next game, a discouraged Agassi carelessly smacked a backhand into the net on a break-point opportunity for Federer, putting him in a position to serve for the match.
Agassi went ahead 0-30 in the final game, but Federer served up another two aces to even the score at 30-30 and went on to win.
Federer's opponent in the final, Nadal, will supplant Agassi as the youngest finalist in this tournament. Agassi was 19 when he won his first title here in 1990.
Nadal is on his own streak, winning 15 matches in a row. He has won back-to-back titles, in tournaments in Brazil and Mexico.
''I think winning the last tournaments was good for my confidence,'' Nadal said. ''I am very happy with my tennis because I improve every day.''
Nadal raced to a 4-0 lead before Ferrer settled into the opening set to win four of the next five games. But Nadal successfully served out the set in the 10th game.
In the second set, Nadal broke serve in the opening and final games to close out the match in 91 minutes.
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