Agassi moves into semis

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.

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 eight players in the world, who are split into two groups. The top two from each pool advance to the last four.

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.

Agassi seized the No 1 ranking after winning the French Open and the US Open this summer.

Kafelnikov broke the Swede8217;s serve for a 2-0 lead in the final set, only to drop his own serve in the seventh game.

But Enqvist was unable to use his opportunity and faced two match point on his serve in the 10th game. He saved the first with the help of a net cord that forced Kafelnikov into a forehand error and fired a service winner on the second.

Kafelnikov, who overcame 18 aces by Enqvist, set up his third match point with a passing shot and then saw Enqvist8217;s backhand sail into the net.

The outcome was a repeat of the Australian Open final, when Kafelnikov also won, in four sets.

Enqvist has risen to a career-high No 4 in the world, after winning the Eurocard Open in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Stockholm Open in his homeland in the run-up to Hanover.

Kiefer delighted the home crowd by rolling over Martin, the US Open finalist, and No 7 in the world in 70 minutes.

The sixth-ranked Kiefer broke Martin8217;s serve once in the first set and twice more in the second and finished the match with an ace.

Kafelnikov thought the Agassi and Sampras were getting too much attention at the expense of other players. Afer their showdown Wednesday, which Agassi won, the two Americans said they considered themselves the best players in the world.

8220;You have to realize that it8217;s not only a show between Pete and Andre anymore,8221; the Russian said. 8220;There are some other guys who also have big names. I don8217;t include only myself, there are guys like Enqvist and Gustavo Kuerten.8221;

8220;You have to pay respect for what they are doing. I was pretty embarrassed to watch CNN this morning. As soon as the show started, they had Agassi and Sampras, and then 20 minutes later, they had a small piece on the rest of the tournament,8221; Kafelnikov said.

Kafelnikov paid tribute to the achievements of Agassi and Sampras.

8220;But there is also some other guys,8221; he said.