Drop the retirement talk. Andre Agassi showed the kid -- and everyone else -- that he still has a whole lot left.
Agassi took another huge step in his late-summer resurgence, beating second-seeded Andy Roddick in an all-American semifinal Saturday night at the Cincinnati Masters.
"If you know one thing, it's not to write Andre Agassi off," said Roddick, the tournament's defending champion. "I'm disappointed that I lost, but part of me is happy. He let his racquet do the talking, and it's saying something."
The 7-5, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (2) victory sent the 34-year-old Agassi into his first ATP tournament final since last November at the Tennis Masters Cup. He'll play 10th-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia for the championship on Sunday.
Hewitt overpowered unseeded Spainiard Tommy Robredo with his serve in the other semifinal, rolling to a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
The evening match pitted two players with a warm relationship. Agassi befriended Roddick when he was starting on the tour as a teenager, but their meetings on the court have been generally one-sided -- Agassi has won five of six.
This one meant a lot more to the 11th-seeded Agassi, who had to miss Wimbledon because of an inflamed hip and arrived in Cincinnati still looking to regain his touch.
The three-set semifinal tested his stamina, his mettle and his confidence. He aced the final exam, closing it out with an untouched serve down the middle.
Then, he giddily skipped onto the court and acknowledge an ovation with a wave of his hand and a pump of his fist.
Agassi moved into fifth place on the career list with his 807th career win, moving ahead of Stefan Edberg. He also gave notice that he's back in form with the US Open looming.
The second-seeded Roddick was his toughest opponent yet. The hard-serving baseline specialist had lost only two matches in his last 27, both to No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland.
Amelie Mauresmo of France survived a first-set tiebreaker and a rain delay and went on to beat Russia's Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (6), 6-2 in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup on Saturday.
Mauresmo, who won the event in 2002, will face another Russian, Elena Likhovtseva, a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 semifinal winner over French Open champion Anastasia Myskina, in Sunday's final.
With the victory, Mauresmo extended her domination of Zvonareva, raising her record against her to 4-0.
"I know her game well -- what she does well and what she does that's not so good," Mauresmo said. "I don't think she likes my game too much, but this was probably the closest match we've played."
Likhovtseva reached the final with her fourth straight upset. The Russian has beaten eighth-seeded Nadia Petrova, 11th-seeded Francesca Schiavone, fifth-seeded Jennifer Capriati and countrywoman Myskina, the No. 3 seed.
"After the match, there were no emotions because it's tough to play against your friend," said Likhovtseva, who reached the final of a Tier-1 event for the first time. "I just feel really calm and confident, and usually I wouldn't be.
"When I go out there, I'm just thinking of fighting and running down every point and not thinking about the score, or what's going to happen if I win the match, or other bad things."
Likhovtseva relied on a tenacious baseline game and took advantage of Myskina's errors. The French Open champion had her serve broken three times in the first set and once in the second.
Likhovtseva led 5-3 in the second set and was two points from victory when she developed blisters on her left heel. Myskina rallied to win the set, and Likhovtseva called in the trainer to bandage the heel.
After dropping the first two games of the third set, Likhovtseva won four in a row. Myskina tied the set at 4-all, but Likhovtseva then broke service on a long game that ended when on a net cord.
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