Agassi sets up clash with Ferrero in Madrid

Agencies, Madrid

Andre Agassi won a late night battle of wills to see off Spanish wildcard Feliciano Lopez 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 at the Madrid Masters on Thursday and set up a quarterfinals meeting with Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Agassi needed every ounce of his resolve to beat Lopez, a tricky left-hander with a gigantic serve who was roared on by a packed crowd at the Madrid Rockodrome.

Lopez saved a match point on his own serve in the second-set tiebreak before finally giving Agassi a chance in game 11 of the third, double-faulting on the first of three break points.

The American second seed, serving with a 6-5 lead, missed his second match point but eventually clinched victory in two hours 23 minutes with a punched forehand beyond Lopez's reach.

"It's disappointing that someone had to lose a match like that," Agassi said. "I was prepared for him but I just couldn't do anything with his serve.

"It was a great match and I feel pretty fortunate to get through it."

Agassi will go on to face Ferrero in a rematch of the French Open quarterfinals won by the Spaniard.

Ferrero, seeded fifth, was also taken to three sets by Alex Corretja but his 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory was easy by comparison.

Sebastian Grosjean, seeded seventh, moved smoothly through to the last eight with a 7-6, 6-1 success against Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.

Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand scampered his way to a 6-4, 6- 2 success against Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, while Fabrice Santoro of France was enjoying an even simpler 6-0, 6-2 victory over David Nalbandian of Argentina.

In Zurich, fifth seed Yugoslav teenager Jelena Dokic joined the list of seeds making an early exit from the Swisscom Challenge on Thursday when she was upset in three sets 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 by big-serving American qualifier Alexandra Stevenson.

Stevenson will meet Spain's Conchita Martinez, who surprisingly knocked top seed American Jennifer Capriati out of the tournament on Wednesday.

Dokic's exit followed two fine performances by other 19-year- olds and ended romantic hopes of seeing three teenagers through to the last eight in succession after Daniela Hantuchova and Kim Clijsters had shown her how to do it earlier in the day.

Patty Schnyder of Switzerland later followed them when she came from behind to beat Russian Elena Bovina 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final match of the day.

In Bratislava, Slovakia, fifth seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy lost to Paraguay's Rossana Neffa de los Rios 6-4, 7-5 in the VUB Open, one of five seeded players to crash out of the US$110,000 tournament in the second round Thursday.

Slovenia's Maja Matevzic advanced as American Meghann Shaughnessy, seeded second, pulled out of the match. Organizers said Shaughnessy suffered from stomach problems.

Qualifier Iveta Benesova from the Czech Republic surprisingly beat eighth-seeded Laura Granville of the United States 6-3, 6-4, and wild-card entry Eva Fislova of Slovakia defeated fourth- seeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-4.

Later in the day, Lubomira Kurhajcova of Slovakia ousted sixth seed Iroda Tulyaganova from Uzbekistan 1-6, 6-0, 6-2.

Only Nathalie Dechy of France, top-seeded player here, changed the pattern Thursday, when she defeated Germany's Barbara Rittner, Germany, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) in the second round of the tournament.