Agassi advances to French Open semis

Jocelyn Noveck

Tuesday, June 1, 1999 | 10:49 a.m.

PARIS -- Las Vegas' Andre Agassi surged into the French Open semifinals, routing Marcelo Filippini today in a match so one-sided the fans were jeering his opponent.

Agassi beat the Uruguayan 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 for his first appearance in a Grand Slam semifinal since 1996, when he reached the semis at the U.S. and Australian Opens. The French Open is the only major he has not won.

He next faces Dominik Hrbaty, the Slovakian who knocked out top-ranked Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marcelo Rios.

"It's a tremendous feeling for me to be here, for many reasons," Agassi said. "It would be a dream to do even better."

In the third set, fans began taunting the hapless Filippini, who could barely win a point, let alone hold serve. Agassi closed the match with an ace.

Filippini, a qualifier ranked 140th in the world, beat Greg Rusedski to get to the quarterfinals, but against Agassi he botched shot after shot.

The last time Agassi reached the semifinals at Roland Garros was in 1992.

Marcelo Rios exited a tournament he seemed primed to win.

He fell 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 to Hrbaty, one of the season's big surprises.

"I think he played better than me today," Rios said. "Losing is always sad. I'll try again next year."

Among the women, Steffi Graf showed some of her power and resilience from years past, defeating Lindsay Davenport in three sets and advance to the semifinals.

There, she'll be joined by three familiar faces: top-ranked Martina Hingis, defending champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Monica Seles, her next opponent.

Graf, a five-time champion in Paris, missed last's year's French Open with an injury. But against the world's No. 2 player she produced one of her best victories of late.