Andre Agassi struggles through against Enqvist

Reuters, Washington

Top seed Andre Agassi was made to work hard before reaching the semi-finals of the Legg Mason Classic with a tough 6-7 7-6 6-3 victory over Sweden's Thomas Enqvist on Friday.

"I served for the first (set) and he served for the second, and it was just one of those nights where it happened to be going my way," Agassi said.

"I just tried to make him play well...and I was just interested in making him make great shots to win it." The American's victory evened their lifetime score at 4-4.

Agassi will now face number six seed James Blake after the 22- year-old former Harvard University student beat Spain's fourth- seeded Alex Corretja 6-4 6-4.

It is the second time this year Blake has defeated Corretja. He also won their first-round encounter at the Australian Open.

In other matches, Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan, who upset Agassi in the second round at Wimbledon this year, continued his giant-killing run at the Washington event with a 6-3 7-5 victory over eighth-seeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen.

Srichaphan, who knocked out third seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands in the third round on Thursday, said that victory had given him confidence.

He now meets fifth seed Marcelo Rios, who was granted a wild card for the event, in the other semi-final. Rios beat 16th-seed Fernando Meligeni of Brazil 3-6 6-4 7-5.

In Indiana, Greg Rusedski followed up his victory over Lleyton Hewitt by defeating Dutchman Martin Verkerk 6-4 7-6 to reach the semi-finals of the Indianapolis Open on Friday.

He will next play third seeded German Tommy Haas, who edged past sixth seed Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-3 3-6 6-3.

Rainer Schuettler struggled to end the run of lucky loser Arnaud DiPasquale of France, dropping the first set before rallying for a 2-6 6-4 6-1 victory.

Schuettler will play unseeded Felix Mantilla of Spain, who recovered from a set and a break down to beat France's 15th seed Arnaud Clement 1-6 6-4 6-4.

In women's tennis in Montreal, Yugoslavia's Jelena Dokic cut short the comeback of former world number one Martina Hingis with a 6-4 6-3 victory in the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open on Friday.

Third seed Dokic frequently outflanked Hingis with her powerful shots in a match that lasted little more than an hour.

Dokic, currently at a career high fifth place in the world rankings, said her performance on Friday was one of her best this year.

American second seed Jennifer Capriati booked her place in the semi-finals after storming back to beat fifth seeded Belgian Justine Henin 4-6 6-0 6-2. Capriati will meet Dokic in the semi- finals. They last met in the quarter finals of San Diego, where Dokic won the three set match.

The other semi-final will pit France's Amelie Mauresmo, the world number 10, against Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova.

Mauresmo advanced to the semi-finals by making short work of Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga, winning 6-0 6-2 in just 50 minutes.

Hantuchova raised her career record against Austrian Barbara Schett to 3-0 with a comfortable 6-3 6-3 victory in her quarter- final.