Rusedski fights past Haas to book final date

Having blasted his way past the world No 1, Lleyton Hewitt, in an earlier round, the 14th-seeded Greg Rusedski booked an appearance in the final of the Indianapolis Open when he beat Germany's Tommy Haas, the third seed, 3-6 6-3 6-3 in last night's semi-final.

The victory was a continuation of the fine form Britain's No 2 had shown in beating first Hewitt and then the Dutchman Martin Verkerk 6-4 7-6 in the quarter-finals.

The meeting with Haas, who has been suffering from a shoulder injury, was Rusedski's fourth semi-final of the year. He will now face either Rainer Schuettler of Germany or Spain's Felix Mantilla in today's final.

Rusedski, whose preparations for the US Open are going in the right direction, used his convincing victory over Hewitt as the platform for his wins over Verkerk and Haas, being able to come up with the right shot on the crucial points.

He had a hard battle at first against the Dutchman, and it was not until the ninth game in the first set against Verkerk that Rusedski took the lead, hitting a lob that had Verkerk scrambling to make a return that landed wide. The match continued in the same vein in the second set with Rusedski unable to convert break points in the first and seventh games. Rusedski also saved a break, and set, point in the 10th game before being able to hold on and win in the tiebreak.

"I was pleased the way I played the big points," said Rusedski. "He was serving his second serve as hard as he could on break points and making a lot of good shots, but I think the difference today was that my returning was a little bit better than his.

"I wish I could have got that break early in the second set to make life a little bit easier, and in a tiebreaker with two big servers anything could happen. It was very nice to follow up last night's win over Hewitt with another."

Schuettler struggled to end the run of lucky loser Arnaud DiPasquale of France, dropping the first set before rallying for a 2-6 6-4 6-1 victory, while Mantilla also had to show his battling qualities by recovering from a set and a break down to beat France's Arnaud Clement 1-6 6-4 6-4.

In Washington DC, the top seed, Andre Agassi, was made to work hard before reaching the semi-finals of the Legg Mason Classic with a tough 6-7 7-6 6-3 victory over Sweden's Thomas Enqvist. "I served for the first set and he did that for the second, and it was just one of those nights where it happened to be going my way. I've dug in so many times here that the week can't go by without that happening again," Agassi said. He will now meet No 6 seed James Blake after the 22-year-old former Harvard University student beat Spain's fourth- seeded Alex Corretja 6-4 6-4.

In other matches, Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan had a 6-3 7-5 victory over eighth-seeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen and will now face fifth seed Marcelo Rios in the other semi-final; the Chilean wild card beating Fernando Meligeni of Brazil 3-6 6-4 7-5.

In Montreal, Yugoslavia's Jelena Dokic cut short the comeback of the former world No 1 Martina Hingis with a 6-4 6-3 victory in the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open. The third-seeded Dokic frequently outflanked Hingis with her powerful shots in a match that lasted little more than an hour.

"I was sometimes a little slow. She played well from both sides," Hingis said. "She is in a tournament routine and that is what I need to get back to." The event was the first tournament Hingis had played in three months, having undergone left-ankle surgery in May. "There's a lot of work that needs to be done," she said. Dokic will now meet the American second seed Jennifer Capriati, who booked her place in the semi-finals after storming back to beat fifth-seeded Belgian Justine Henin 4-6 6-0 6-2. The other semi-final will pit France's world No 10, Amelie Mauresmo, against Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova.

Mauresmo overpowered the Colombian Fabiola Zuluaga, 6-0 6-2, and Hantuchova enjoyed a comfortable 6-3 6-3 success over the Austrian Barbara Schett.