Agassi draws the Kuerten, in semis

HANOVER, NOV 26: Top-ranked Andre Agassi became the first player to advance to the semi-finals of the ATP Tour World Championship by beat...

HANOVER, NOV 26: Top-ranked Andre Agassi became the first player to advance to the semi-finals of the ATP Tour World Championship by beating Gustavo Kuerten 6-4, 7-5.

Agassi advanced to the last four without dropping a set in his three Red Group matches.

The Red Group will be decided today, when Pete Sampras plays Nicolas Lapentti. Kuerten, 1-2, could theoretically still advance. Sampras is 1-1 and Lapentti is 0-2. Sampras needs to win a set to advance.

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In the White Group, Nicolas Kiefer beat Todd Martin 6-3, 6-2 to stay alive and Yevgeny Kafelnikov picked up his second victory by outlasting Thomas Enqvist.

Kafelnikov, No 2 in the world, raised his record to 2-0 after beating Enqvist 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, while the fourth-ranked Enqvist dropped to 1-1.

Because of the round-robin format, all four were still in the running for the two semi-finals places. Kiefer is now 1-1 and Martin fell to 0-2. The group will be decided tonight.

The $3.6 million season-ending tournament brings together the top eightplayers in the world, who are split into two groups. The top two from each pool advance to the last four.

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After his victory, Agassi received the ATP Tour trophy for finishing the year as No 1. Agassi is assured of staying No 1 for the year even if he fails to win the event.