The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Coria ousts Agassi

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Monday, May 09, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Coria ousts Agassi

ROME: Andre Agassi's Rome Masters bid ended when he lost 7-5 7-6 to Argentine ninth seed Guillermo Coria in the semifinals on Saturday.

In the final Coria will play another claycourt specialist, Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal who beat compatriot David Ferrer. The match will be a repeat of last month's Monte Carlo Masters final, which Nadal won in four sets.

Coria's victory ended Agassi's hopes of reclaiming the title he won in 2002.

It was an erratic performance by the 35-year-old American, whose flashes of brilliance were undone by often wayward groundstrokes.

A break down after the seventh game, Agassi produced a pair of winning service returns to level at 5-5. In the next game, however, a series of long forehands gifted Coria the chance to serve out for the set.

The Argentine tightened his grip on the match when Agassi committed another series of unforced errors to drop serve in the opening game of the second set.

The results:

At Rome (ATP Masters): Semifinal: Guillermo Coria bt Andre Agassi 7-5, 7-6(0).

At Berlin (German Open): Semifinal: Nadia Petrova bt Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3. Quarterfinal: Jelena Jankovic bt Elena Bovina 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

At Rabat, Morocco (Grand Prix SAR): Semifinal: Nuria Llagostera Vives bt Emilie Loit 6-4, 6-1. — Agencies

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