Ferrero takes first set over Agassi
Matthew Cronin
Wednesday, June 5, 2002

Playing remarkably consistent tennis in extremely windy and
drizzly conditions, Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero took a 6-3 1-0
lead over 1999 Roland Garros champ Andre Agassi in their
quarterfinal on Wednesday.

Cracking a heavy kick serve, running freely and whipping his
groundstrokes deep, No11 seed Ferrero broke Agassi twice to
jump out to a 5-2 lead. The 32-year-old Agassi had a hard time
getting his feet moving and couldn't find a way to penetrate
the quick Ferrero, who seemed at ease dashing about the back
of the court and whipping back Agassi's blasts.

At 5-2, rain began to fall heavily and the two went off the
court for nearly five hours. When they returned, Agassi
immediately broke Ferrero with a huge inside out forehand
that skidded off the tape. But Ferrero broke Agassi to win
the set 6-3 when the American dumped a backhand into the net.

Ferrero held serve to start the second set, before the match
was postponed due to rain. The two will resume their match on
Thursday following the completion of the Andrei Pavel-Alex
Corretja match.