Agassi advances to semifinals of Legg Mason Classic

Top-seeded Andre Agassi beat 17-year-old Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-4 in a match delayed twice by rain to advance to the semifinals of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington.

Top-seeded Andre Agassi beat 17-year-old Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-4 in a match delayed twice by rain to advance to the semifinals of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington.

Agassi, seeking his sixth title in the tournament, broke serve once in each set, and was in control of seemingly every rally in Friday's match.

"He certainly seems to have a lot of weapons," Agassi said. "I'm never surprised when guys step it up."

Roddick was playing his first ATP Tour quarterfinal after advancing with victories over eighth-seeded Fabrice Santoro and ninth-seeded Karol Kucera.

"It was a close match. He was in control of it the whole time," Roddick said "This week's been awesome. To score a couple of big wins and play Agassi again, it's been great.

After the match, Agassi team with Armenia's Sargis Sargsian to beat David Johnson and South Africa's Piet Norval 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the third round of doubles.

In the semifinals Saturday, Agassi will face 14th-seeded David Prinosil of Germany, a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 winner over sixth-seeded Byron Black of Zimbabwe.

In the other quarterfinals, second-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain beat Australia's Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3, and third-seeded Nicolas Kiefer of Germany beat fifth-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Kiefer, who has played three three-set matches in as many days, broke Gambill's serve four times and won the final five games.

"We've played twice against each other and I've never gotten a set against him," Kiefer said. "I served and returned very well today, and that was the key to the match."

Serving at 1-2 in the third set, the German was called for a foot fault on his second serve at 30-15. He responded by softly hitting a ball in the direction of the linesman who made the call, prompting a warning for unsportsmanlike behavior.

At deuce in the same game, Kiefer was penalized a point by the chair umpire for spitting in the direction of the linesman.

"The second one I don't know why I got a point penalty. I was spitting in the air," Kiefer said.

After Kiefer argued with the chair umpire, Gambill failed to take advantage of the penalty point. However, he agreed that Kiefer had done nothing wrong.

"I don't think what he did warranted a penalty point, so I don't think I really earned that point," Gambill said.

Results from the $800,000 Legg Mason Classic ATP Tour hard-court tournament:

Singles - Quarterfinals

Nicolas Kiefer (3), Germany, def. Jan-Michael Gambill (5), United States, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Andre Agassi (1), United States, def. Andy Roddick, United States, 6-4, 6-4. Alex Corretja (2), Spain, def. Wayne Arthurs, Australia, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3. David Prinosil (14), Germany, def. Byron Black (6), Zimbabwe, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Doubles - Third Round

Alex O'Brien and Jared Palmer (1), United States, def. Marcos Ondruska, South Africa and Mitch Sprengelmeyer, United States, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1. Andre Agassi, United States and Sargis Sargsian, Armenia def. David Johnson, United States and Piet Norval (2), South Africa, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. Thomas Shimada, Japan, and Myles Wakefield, South Africa, vs. Alex Corretja, Spain, and Nicolas Kiefer, Germany Bob and Mike Bryan, United States, vs. Wayne Arthurs, Australia, and Nenad Zimonjic (6), Yugoslavia