Blake Gets Past Agassi in Washington Semifinals

James Blake upset top-seeded Andre Agassi, 6-3, 6-4, Saturday night to reach the championship of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic at Washington.

Blake will play Paradorn Srichaphan, who defeated Marcelo Rios, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the other semifinal.

One day after falling behind 3-0 in both the first and second sets against Alex Corretja before rallying, Blake broke Agassi in the second game of the match on his way to a 3-0 lead. From that point, Blake hit winner after winner--25 in all--to overpower Agassi from the baseline.

Agassi, who came back from a set down Friday night to beat Thomas Enqvist, didn’t show much fight against Blake in the second set. Agassi’s serve was broken twice in the set’s first three games, and Blake went ahead, 4-0.

Agassi tried to mount a late comeback, breaking Blake’s serve to get within 5-3, but Blake held his serve and took the match with a forehand winner.

The 14th-seeded Srichaphan, who upset Agassi in the second round at Wimbledon this year, made it a day of upsets in the first semifinal.

Srichaphan, who had 18 unforced errors in the first set, broke Rios twice in the second and three times in the third to reach his first final in the United States.

The fifth-seeded Rios broke twice in the first set. He won 28 points in the opening set, but only 30 points in the final two sets. Srichaphan lost only one point on serve in the second set.

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Jennifer Capriati reached the final of the Rogers AT&T; Cup in Montreal when Jelena Dokic retired because of a knee injury while trailing in the second set.

Capriati was ahead, 7-6 (5), 4-0, when Dokic told the chair umpire she couldn’t continue in the hard-court tuneup for the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 26.

The second-seeded Capriati will face seventh-seeded Amelie Mauresmo, a 6-2, 7-6 (3) winner over eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova.

Capriati won the tournament at 15 in 1991, and was the runner-up last year in Toronto.

Dokic, seeded third, had the trainer work on her knee while trailing, 3-0, in the second set. Back on the court five minutes later, she barely moved while losing a service game.

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Greg Rusedski defeated another top player in the RCA Championships at Indianapolis, reaching the final with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over third-seeded Tommy Haas.

Rusedski, seeded 14th, will face unseeded Felix Mantilla, a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 winner over ninth-seeded Rainer Schuettler, in the other semifinal.

Ranked 41st in the ATP Entry System, Rusedski beat top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt on Thursday.

Rusedski made his move in the second set, breaking Haas’ serve in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead. Haas, troubled by pain in his right elbow, double-faulted twice in the game and 10 times in the match. Rusedski had only three double-faults.

Golf

The forecast calls for thunderstorms and gusting wind. That was enough to put a smile on the face of Scotland’s Catriona Matthew.

“I grew up playing in pretty windy weather,” she said after her third consecutive two-under-par 70 gave her a one-shot lead over Meg Mallon (69) in the Canadian Women’s Open at Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec.

Se Ri Pak (68), Gloria Park (73) and Michelle Ellis (73) were three strokes back at three under, and Karrie Webb (72) and Charlotta Sorenstam (70) followed at two under.

Matthew took the lead by making birdie putts of 25 feet and 12 feet on her final two holes to move to six-under 210.

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Becky Lucida of Poway won the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Scarborough, N.Y., building a six-hole lead in the morning round and holding off Brandi Jackson of Belton, S.C., 3 and 2, in the 36-hole final.

Lucida, who will be a senior at USC, never trailed in the 121 holes she played in six matches on the Sleepy Hollow Country Club course. She won the Robert Cox Cup and earned a spot in the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open.

“I’ve never won any college events,” Lucida said. “But there will be an obscene amount of confidence when I return to school. I’m already thinking about next year’s U.S. Women’s Open.”

Basketball

Predrag Stojakovic of the Sacramento Kings scored 26 points to lead Yugoslavia past Dirk Nowitzki and Germany, 88-87, in double overtime at the SuperCup in Braunschweig, Germany, a tuneup tournament for the World Championships.

Nowitzki, the Dallas Maverick forward, scored 25 points, including a three-point basket with 2.2 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Yugoslavia and Germany finished the round-robin event with 2-1 records. Yugoslavia won because of the head-to-head victory.

Stojakovic will lead Yugoslavia as it tries to defend its title at the World Championships, which start Aug. 29 in Indianapolis.