Awesome Agassi storms into semis

Davenport was just too powerful and experienced for Kournikova who was once again found wanting on the big occasion. The 19-year-old has never won a tournament in her career and only made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam twice. acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;I know Iacirc;euro;trade;m a good player,acirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade; Kournikova said. acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;I just have to be more consistent. Why change something if everything is going so good.acirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade; Capriati reached her second successive Australian Open semifinal when she scrambled back to beat Seles.

The American 12th seed scored her first win over Seles in six Grand Slam matches, wearing down the four-times Australian Open winner with her tenacity and power.

Last year, Agassiacirc;euro;trade;s come-from-behind, five-set victory over Sampras in the semifinals was the supreme showdown of the Australian Open. This time, Martin knocked out Sampras in the fourth round, ending a 13-match losing streak against him.

Agassi next faces the winner of a night match between two-time US Open champion Patrick Rafter the local favourite and No 14 Dominik Hrbaty.Agassi interrupted his match briefly to catch a bug near the baseline and throw it off court. Martin, trailing 30-40 and 1-2 in the final set, waited out the distraction and then served an ace.

He then held serve and, three games later, broke Agassi for a 4-3 lead. But Agassi broke right back and went on to win. acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;I put on a good front,acirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade; Agassi said of his mercy towards the bug.

His tennis, meanwhile, acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;feels pretty good. Iacirc;euro;trade;ve gotten better as the tournament has gone on,acirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade; the No 6 seed said.

acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;I felt on top of it today,acirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade; he added. acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;Itacirc;euro;trade;s the best I have ever felt against Todd. I was making him earn all the points he was winning, and felt like I was executing everything that I could do as well as possible.acirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade;

Agassiacirc;euro;trade;s Australian Open triumph last year ended a run off four Grand Slam tournaments where he also won the French and US Opens and was runner-up at Wimbledon.

Winning all four in a year acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;would be great,acirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade; he said. acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;Thereacirc;euro;trade;s no saying it canacirc;euro;trade;t be done, but I think weacirc;euro;trade;re a lot closer to seeing Mark McGwireacirc;euro;trade;s home run record being beat than we are to seeing someone win four Grand Slams in the same year, in the menacirc;euro;trade;s game.acirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade;

Agassi improved his record against Martin to 13-5. Nobody ever has beaten both Sampras and Agassi at a Grand Slam.

At age 30, Agassi and Martin were the oldest players still in the menacirc;euro;trade;s ranks after the fourth round.

In remaining quarterfinal matches on Wednesday, top seed Hingis plays No 6 Serena Williams, and No 3 Venus Williams meets No 10 Amanda Coetzer.On the menacirc;euro;trade;s side, 1999 champion and 2000 runner-up Yevgeny Kafelnikov plays No 15 Arnaud Clement, and No 16 Sebastien Grosjean meets Carlos Moya, who is unseeded but a former No 1.

After Grosjean beat No 4 Magnus Norman last night, all four top seeds were gone before the quarterfinals for only the third time in a Grand Slam tournament since the Open era began in 1968.