Kuerten in the mood to face Agassi

Gustavo Kuerten, the fifth-seeded Brazilian, playing in just his second event since the French Open, showed some signs of his lack of match practice at the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles as he struggled to overcome Martin Lee, of Britain, 7-5, 7-6.

Kuerten, who underwent hip surgery in April, was pleased to win what he described as "a close match" on Thursday, and said: "I feel much better now than when I came back for my first tournament on clay after the injury."

The defending champion, Andre Agassi, brushed aside his American compatriot Robby Ginepri, 6-3, 6-1, to set up a quarter-final with Kuerten. Agassi needed just 54 minutes to dispose of the 19-year-old Ginepri, but can expect a tougher test from Kuerten, who forced the second-seeded American to go to three tense sets when the two met in the semi-finals last year.

"I don't know if I can play the same way I did last year when I played one of my best matches, even if I lost to him," said Kuerten.

"For me, it's special when I play a match like this. I start having my feelings back to play against a great player."

The ATP Generali Open in Kitzbühel, Austria, has been a rewarding event for the French Open champion, Albert Costa, who has won the title there three times. But yesterday Costa, the top seed, lost to his good friend and fellow Spaniard Alex Corretja, whom he defeated to reach the final at Roland Garros. Corretja won 6-1, 6-2 and now meets Gaston Gaudio, the Argentinian sixth seed, who defeated Nicolas Massu, of Chile, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarter-finals.

The fast-rising French 16-year-old Richard Gasquet beat Filip Prpic, of Sweden, 6-2, 6-4 yesterday to reach the semi-finals of a Finnish Challenger event on clay. Playing on his favourite surface, Gasquet dropped his serve twice in a row at the start of the second set to the 20-year-old Prpic.

"I played well in the first set, but couldn't stay focused early in the second," said Gasquet. "Then I started playing well again. I didn't want to lose against that guy."

Gasquet won in straight sets for the eighth time in his last nine Challenger matches. Earlier this month, the world's top junior won a French Challenger at Montauban, then lost in the final in his next Challenger event.

By reaching the quarterfinals two days earlier Gasquet broke into the top 200 on the ATP Entry System for the first time. At the French Open, Gasquet became the youngest player – at the age of 15 – to qualify for the men's main singles at Roland Garros.