Agassi in semifinals

LISBON, DEC. 1. Andre Agassi made sure that Expo 98 wasn't the only exhibition to be hosted by Lisbon's Pavilhao Atlantico by serving up one of his own at the Masters Cup - to the chagrin of Olympic champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, whom he thrashed 6-1, 6-4 in just 67 minutes.

Agassi, the 1990 ATP world championship winner, thus moved into the semifinals of the $3.7 million event as Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten handed Swede Magnus Norman a second defeat, 7-5, 6-3 in 1hour 14minutes in the evening Green group match.

That means the winner of the final round robin match between Kuerten and Kafelnikov will join Agassi in the last four and the loser bow out. Norman is already eliminated.

Russian World No. 1 Marat Safin, meanwhile, reached the last four without even playing. Safin, who won his opening two pool encounters, is through regardless of whether he beats Pete Sampras because Spaniard Alex Corretja beat Aussie teen Lleyton Hewitt 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to ensure Hewitt cannot catch him.

But despite his second defeat the Australian can still snatch second place. If Sampras loses to Safin, the American will be eliminated as he lost in straight sets on Tuesday to Hewitt, who would advance on the head-to-head rule.

Hewitt, battling a virus before he came here, rushed through his opening set with breaks in the first and ninth games against Corretja in a dress rehearsal of their Davis Cup clash in Barcelona next week.

However, he then folded, despite overturning a break deficit at 2-3 to force a tie-break in the second set. Corretja turned on the aggression to level as he scored a double minibreak to move 3-2 in front after Hewitt missed a volley and skipped through the remainder of the tie-break.

By that stage the electronic scoreboard had given up the ghost - and so had Hewitt, as he sent a trio of forehands into the net to drop serve for 0-2 in the decider.

``I struggled because I haven't had so many tough matches under my belt in the last few weeks,'' explained Hewitt. Although Hewitt then fought back from 0-5 to 3-5, Corretja closed out the match as Hewitt sent a backhand return long.

Earlier, U.S. veteran Agassi, looking for a second season-ending title win after his previous triumph back in 1990, bamboozled Kafelnikov in a replay of their Australian Open final meeting last January.

On that occasion Kafelnikov pocketed the first set. But there was little danger of that happening here as Agassi, at 30 the oldest man in the tournament, showed that, as with the best wines, an older vintage can bring greater satisfaction.

The fact that the first set lasted 21 minutes told its own story, as did the fact that Kafelnikov had just one - spurned - break point.

``The first set went a lot quicker than I expected. He hung in there on a day when a lot was going well for me,'' said Agassi, who arrived here following three weeks spent recovering from a hip flexor problem. But the doubts evaporated once he snaffled his third break chance in the opening game before proceeding to rip his opponent apart.

The results: Green Group: Andre Agassi bt Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-1, 6-4; Gustavo Kuerten bt Magnus Norman 7- 5, 6-3. Red Group: Alex Corretja bt Lleyton Hewitt 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

ATF juniors from Dec. 25

NEW DELHI, DEC. 1. The AITA under-16 and under-14 tennis tournament scheduled to be held at the DDA Sports Complex, Saket, from December 25 to 30 has been postponed to January 1.

The DLTA will, however, hold the ATF junior championship for under-18 and under-14 boys and girls from December 25, with a cash prize of Rs. 250,000.

The points awarded would be: winner (32), runner-up (25), semifinalists (20), quarterfinalists (16), pre- quarterfinalists (9) and first round entrants (3). In doubles, the winners will get 32 points, the runners-up 25, the semifinalists 20 and the quarterfinalists 16.

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