Agassi halted in Washington semi-final
John Poirier
Top seed Andre Agassi missed his chance for a sixth Washington title when he lost 6-3 6-4 to fellow American James Blake in the semi-finals of the Legg Mason Classic on Saturday.
Blake now meets Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in Sunday's final.
"He played a great match," Agassi said of his sixth seeded opponent. "I had plenty of fight. I just didn't deliver."
Blake capitalized on what he called an "off-day" for Agassi, who had struggled on Friday to beat Sweden's Thomas Enqvist in three sets.
The 22-year-old former Harvard University student dominated the one-hour match, returning the ball as fast and hard as Agassi. He also broke Agassi's serve three times in the second set.
"He had an off-day," Blake said of the five-time champion. "I knew I had to capitalize on it."
Earlier, Srichaphan, who knocked Agassi out of Wimbledon in the second round in June, ousted Chile's Marcelo Rios 3-6 6-2 6-2 in the other semi-final match.
"I got a little tired after the first set and I was struggling with my knee," said the fifth seeded Rios, who also fought Washington's summer muggy heat.
"I wasn't expecting to be in the final," said the 23-year-old Srichaphan, who was ranked outside the top 100 earlier this year.
Having won the first set 6-3 in 27 minutes, Rios quickly found himself down 1-5 in the second set after losing serve twice.
Srichaphan noticed Rios was playing slower than in the first set and played more aggressively.
"In the second set, I started to stay down, stay low and hit the ball hard," the 14th seed said.
The Thai then broke Rios's serve three times to go up 4-1 in the third set to eventually take the match.
Rios failed to capitalize on his first serves, winning only 58 percent of them, while Srichaphan won 89 percent of his first serves. Each had three double faults.
