Agassi Advances to Semi Final at Australian Open

`Old soldier` Andre Agassi is now only two victories away form the men`s single crown. The world’s second ranked tennis player defeated Sebastien Grosjean from France 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to breeze into the semi-finals at the Australian Open on Jan. 21.

The 33-year-old American, who is in great shape despite his rather old age, said aft the match, “I just felt very solid on my ground strokes and serving well.”

Agassi, who is on run with his 19th consecutive victory at Australian Open, will face either Wayne Ferreira from South Africa or Juan Carlos Ferrero from Spain for a place in the final. Both of the players were earlier defeated by Lee Hyung-taek at Sidney International.

Champion here in 2000 and 2001, he is in a good position to snatch back the trophy with the notable absence of his rival Pete Sampras. The world`s first ranked Rayton Hewitt from Australia already dropped out of the tournament race in the fourth round.

In women`s single, Venus Williams overpowered the beauty of the court Daniela Hantuchova from Slovenia for a 6-4, 6-3 victory to advance to semi-finals. With her victory, a yet another final battle between the two sisters, Venus and Sellna, now seems highly likely.

With her threatening 210km per hour serve, she snatched 6 aces and 29 winning shots, bouncing the seventh seed wearing a short shirt out of the quarter-finals. She will next face either Justine Henin-Hardenne from Belgium or Virginia Ruano Pascual from Spain.

Meanwhile, Kim So-jeong, a high school first grader, defeated Pauline Pamentier from Australia 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the second round in junior women` single. Kim is a promising player who overwhelmed all of her senior players to win the Lee Deok Hee Junior Championship last year.

In men`s junior single, however, Seok Hyeon-jun lost to the second seed Brian Baker from the U.S. in a 6-4, 2-6, 7-9 defeat.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com