Agassi, Sampras make last four

WIMBLEDON, JULY 2: Five-time champion and top seed Pete Sampras must thank his stars to be alive in the tournament. Opponent Mark Philippoussis had won the first set 6-4 and was set to move towards a huge upset, when tragedy struck. In the fourth game of the second set, at deuce, he hit a backhand passing shot down the line and fell rather awkwardly. The ligament behind his left knee snapped. He couldn’t move and had to give the match away to Sampras. “No question, he was outplaying me,” Sampras said. “I feel pretty fortunate to be alive in the tournament, but it was a strange, strange day today. One minute you are holding on, the next minute he can’t go anymore and obviously he was very upset about it.”

This is not the end of Sampras’ troubles anyway. He meets Tim Henman, his semi-final opponent last year, which promises to be a cracker considering that when the number one Brit plays on Centre Court, there are 10,000 more playing for him. Henman beat Cedric Pioline in four sets 6-4, 6-2, 4-6,6-3.Meanwhile, in the women’s, Jelena Dokic’s fairytale finally ended, beaten by another teenager, Alexandra Stevenson, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6. Stevenson created Wimbledon history, becoming the first qualifier to reach the women’s singles semi-finals But there was a lot of cheer for the noisy Australian fans as Patrick Rafter, seeded two, beat back a spirited challenge from American Todd Martin 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) to enter the semi-finals for the first time here. After the win, he promptly pulled out of the doubles quarter-finals. He meets French Open champion and fourth seed Andre Agassi a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 winner over 11th seed Gustavo Kuerten. The last women’s semi-final spot was taken by Mirjana Lucic, who beat France’s Nathalie Tauziat, the eighth seed, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.