Wed, Jan 28, 2004 page20

• Injuries down Grosjean, Mauresmo

  AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Standing in Andre Agassi's way in the semifinals will be the winner of the match between top-ranked Andy Roddick and Marat Safin

  • AP
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  The busiest people at the Australian Open on yesterday were the doctors and trainers.

  Defending champion Andre Agassi moved a step closer to his ninth Grand Slam title when ninth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean came to the net in the second set, shook his hand and said he couldn't go on after injuring a groin muscle in their quarterfinal match.

  Standing in Agassi's way in the semifinals will be the winner of a late match between top-ranked Andy Roddick and former No. 1 Marat Safin, who is coming back from an injury-plagued 2003.

  

  Justine Henin-Hardenne reaches for a forehand return during her quarterfinal match against Lindsay Davenport at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. Henin-Hardenne won in straight sets 7-5 6-3

  PHOTO: AP

  Amelie Mauresmo, the fourth-seeded woman, didn't even start, defaulting in tears with a torn back muscle and handing No. 32 Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia a free pass to the semifinals.

  Zuluaga will face top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne, who ousted fifth-seeded Lindsay Davenport 7-5, 6-3. Neither was in top form, but Henin-Hardenne managed to win the big points, as she did last year when she beat Davenport 9-7 in the third set.

  The 33-year-old Agassi noticed Grosjean, a semifinalist here in 2001, was going for low-percentage shots late in the first set but didn't know the Frenchman was injured.

  

  Andre Agassi of the US blows a kiss to the crowd following his victory over Sebastien Grosjean of France in their men's singles quarter-final match at the Australian Open in Melbourne,yesterday. Agassi was leading 6-2,2-0 when Grosjean retired.

  PHOTO: AFP

  Agassi took the first four games, won the set 6-2 and had pulled ahead 2-0 in the second when Grosjean, who was out eight weeks last year with the same injury, defaulted.

  "That's not a good way for anything to end," Agassi told the crowd. "It's been a great week for Sebastien, it's unfortunate. He'd appreciate everyone's understanding."

  The women's draw was depleted by injury with the pre-tournament withdrawals of defending champion Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Mary Pierce and Monica Seles.

  Other players still in the two-week Grand Slam are far from healthy.

  Second-seeded Kim Clijsters, who plays her quarterfinal against Anastasia Myskina on Wednesday, has been nursing a sprained ankle. Carlos Moya was forced to pull out before his first match with a similar injury.

  Third-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero, the French Open champion, needed treatment on his injured leg twice in his fourth-round victory Monday. Henin-Hardenne and Davenport both had thighs taped.

  Agassi extended his win streak to 26 matches at the Australian Open, spanning championships in 2000, 2001 and last season. He sat out 2002 after wrist surgery.

  As he has through the tournament, he came out sharp, not allowing Grosjean a game point until he already was down 4-0. Mixing up his speed and spins, Agassi had the Frenchman sprinting from sideline, hitting the paint with regularity.

  "In some ways, you're thinking one or two steps ahead," said Agassi, one of the game's best strategists. "I try to make sure that each shot has a purpose."

  Henin-Hardenne, the French and US Open champion, lost the opening four games before reeling off seven of the next eight to take the first set in 52 minutes.

  "That wasn't easy. Lindsay was playing unbelievable at the start, I wasn't ready for that," Henin-Hardenne said. "I played every point as best I could. I came back in the set and that gives me confidence."

  Davenport lost only one point in her first two service games but ended with 33 unforced errors as her forehand failed in the long rallies. The loss left Lisa Raymond as the only American woman remaining in singles event.

  Davenport was broken while serving for the first set at 5-3 and had triple set-point against Henin-Hardenne's serve in the next game but missed consecutive backhand returns and then hit a forehand that floated long.

  "You've got to be able to pull some of those out and I just wasn't able to," Davenport said.

  Mauresmo, injured while stretching for a backhand volley Sunday against Alicia Molik, withdrew 90 minutes before her match was to start. A 10-minute practice session ended in tears.

  "I wanted to try this morning and have a little hit and see how I felt," she said. "When I hit some shots, I can feel really strong pain. The other thing is it could get worse if I play. The best thing to do is to rest."

  Her coach, Loic Courteau, said Mauresmo insisted on preparing for the match despite scans showing a slight muscle tear in her back.

  "As soon as she went up to the net to volley, it was like a knife thrust in her back," he said.

  Mauresmo has won 10 tournaments but never a Grand Slam. She lost the final here in 1999 and has reached at least the quarterfinals of all four majors, but has been plagued by injuries.

  The women's tennis tour says it will support a proposal for a shift in dates for the Australian Open to March.

  Australian Open officials are considering two options for a date change by the 2007 Open. They involve moving the tournament from its current mid-January timeslot to a week later, or putting it back until March.

  Although a move to March has ramifications for the American hardcourt events in Indian Wells and Miami, the WTA has joined the International Tennis Federation in supporting that option.

  "I think, for the game, the bigger the move back the better, and so closer to March would be the better of the options that we've discussed, from my perspective, even though it creates a lot of complications," WTA Tour chief executive Larry Scott said Tuesday.

  "If we take a step back, and look at the length of the season and the fact that the game continues to get more competitive and more rigorous, I think that would be healthiest."

  But Scott said "there's a lot of complications, a lot of issues, and at the end of the day my view is that the Australian Open has to make that call."

  No decision has been made by Tennis Australia, although Scott will meet Open officials over the weekend and the Grand Slam Committee will discuss the issue on tomorrow and Friday.

  "Any move would be a positive development in terms of giving us a longer offseason," Scott said. "The fact that, to get ready for the Australian Open, the players have to be traveling, and have to really feel like they're preparing over Christmas and the New Year, is very difficult."

  CHILDHOOD LINK

  It wouldn't be the Australian Open without talk about the courts.

  David Nalbandian likes the high bounce and speed of the Rebound Ace surface. Lleyton Hewitt describes them as rough and wishes there could be uniformity between the Open's courts and the warmup events.

  Players have expressed concerns in the past about their stickiness in the hot conditions often experienced in Melbourne in January. Those conditions have contributed to injuries, especially ankle problems, in the past.

  Lindsay Davenport on Tuesday described them as "a difficult court."

  "Sometimes grass is a little bit hard for people to get used to in the beginning. But here you have a lot of other factors," said the three-time Grand Slam winner.

  "How your foot can just stick sometimes. I mean, you see a lot of players go over on their ankles, and not have the ability to push off their feet."

  Asked if organizers should do something, she said: "It's up to them ... I've never had a major injury out there but I've seen some other times it go on. But, I mean, we're used to playing on a lot of different surfaces."

  PRESIDENTIAL HIT

  Colombia's first Grand Slam semifinalist, Fabiola Zuluaga, may be about to play the biggest match of her career, but she's used to the spotlight.

  Zuluaga, seeded 32nd, advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Open after Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo withdrew with a back injury.

  Zuluaga has played tennis with two former presidents from her homeland. The most memorable was with Colombia's previous president, Andres Pastrana.

  "He [Pastrana] plays good tennis, but I was the one that had to run all over the court when we played doubles together," Zuluaga said.

  Presidents of Colombia are known for rewarding citizens who excel, but Zuluaga says she has yet to hear from current president Alvaro Uribe.

  Her phone has been constantly ringing, however, with messages of support from family and friends. "They are getting crazy and they are so happy and have been calling me many times," Zuluaga said.

  Zuluaga plays top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne tomorrow.
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