ROME, 7 May 2005 — Sixth seed Andre Agassi reached the semifinal of the Rome Masters yesterday after defeating Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 11 minutes.

A champion here in 2002, and making his 11th appearance at the Foro Italico, the 35-year-old American now faces either Argentine ninth seed Guillermo Coria or Fernando Verdasco, the unseeded Spaniard who beat top seed Andy Roddick in the third round.

A one-sided quarterfinal, played in strong winds, was of particular significance to Agassi as it was Hrbaty he beat in the semifinal at Roland Garros en route to the 1999 French Open title.

His triumph in Paris marked a turning point in a remarkable career, having plummeted to 141 in the world in November 1997.

It was also at the 1999 French Open that Agassi’s romance with his now wife Steffi Graf started. Graf ensured a double celebration that year by winning the women’s singles title before announcing her retirement.

Agassi admitted playing Hrbaty, who beat British fourth seed Tim Henman to reach the last eight, brought back happy memories.

“Winning in Paris changed my career and changed my life, but not more than when I met Steffi - she changed my life more than that,” said the eight-time Grand Slam champion.

In the first quarternal of the day, David Ferrer saved four match points before beating Spanish compatriot Alberto Martin 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

The unseeded 23-year-old, making his third appearance in the Eternal City, now faces fifth seed Rafael Nadal, the highest seed left in the tournament who beat Czech 15th seed Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-1 in the other quarterfinal.

After clinching the first set and taking a 3-0 lead in the second, Ferrer’s concentration dropped dramatically and he lost the next six games to allow Martin to level a topsy-turvy match at one set all.

Martin stormed 5-2 ahead in the decider and had four match points, but Ferrer refused to surrender and snatched victory by saving them all and winning five games in a row.

Ferrer, conqueror of third seed and reigning French Open champion Gaston Gaudio in round three, was at a loss to explain his second set collapse.

“Alberto started to hit harder and I had a little bit of a void. But I was stronger in the third set,” he said.The Rome Masters, a warm-up for the French Open which starts on May 23, is the fourth of nine ATP Masters Series tournaments and one of its three clay court events.

There are four tournaments on hard courts and two are indoors.

Sharapova and Mauresmo Exit German Open

In Berlin, top seed Maria Sharapova lost 6-2 6-4 to former world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne in the German Open quarterfinal yesterday, missing a chance to rise to No. 1 in the world rankings.

Earlier, defending champion Amelie Mauresmo was knocked out by Russian Nadia Petrova, losing a baseline-dominated quarter-final 6-2 6-3, to leave the claycourt tournament without its top five seeds.

Sharapova made a confident start, breaking Henin’s opening service game, but the Belgian broke straight back and won the next six games.

“At crucial points she came up with the good shots,” Sharapova told reporters.

“She has played a lot of matches on clay and having won two titles must give her a lot of confidence.”

Henin came to Berlin fresh from victory in Warsaw on Sunday and has been enjoying her return to action after injury and illness.

“I think I played a very good match today,” said the 22-year-old Henin. “I was patient and aggressive and I played well tactically.”

Henin said the wet court had slowed the match down, allowing her to plan and mix her shots.

Sharapova struggled to hold serve throughout the contest but the Wimbledon champion was not too disappointed after failing to become world number one.

“Of course it would have been an amazing honour.... but I am number two in the world, I am 18 years old, and at this point I am pretty satisfied,” she said.

Sharapova’s performance was patchy as she made 30 unforced errors and hit too many serves and returns wide.

Before the quarter-finals she had dropped only seven games after getting a bye into the second round.

Henin had been forced to three sets by each of her previous opponents.

Second seed Mauresmo looked under pressure from the start and produced 34 unforced errors and six double faults in Berlin’s Steffi Graf claycourt stadium.

“Conditions were pretty tough but I think have some work to do on this surface,” Mauresmo said.

Later a buoyant Patty Schnyder, seeded seventh, dropped just four games in a 6-2 6-2 demolition of Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova, the fourth seed, in only 52 minutes. She will play Henin in the semifinal.

Petrova faces Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro or Elena Bovina of Russia, whose quarter-final was stopped because of bad light.