Aggasi takes swift revenge on Ferrero

Andre Agassi last night booked a semi-final against Sebastien Grosjean with a two-set demolition of Juan Carlos Ferrero at the Masters Series event in Madrid.

Ferrero had no answer to Agassi's stunning range of groundstrokes as the American returned everything he could throw at him to race to a 6-3, 6-2 win in an hour and 14 minutes.

"There are days that go that well, you hit the ball and it falls into place. It has been a great day for me," said Agassi, who gained revenge for his defeat to the Spaniard at the French Open in Paris earlier this year.

"I felt I wasn't just playing well, but that everything was going my way. I expected it to be very hard and I have worked hard thinking about it.

"Maybe this is more my element than Ferrero's. It's a lot different on clay, but Ferrero should take the way I played today as a compliment.

"Playing Ferrero in Paris meant I was much better prepared to play him here. Experience has taught me to use my disappointments to get better rather than to get discouraged."

Agassi will now play the Frenchman Grosjean for a place in Sunday's final. Grosjean had earlier reached the semi-finals with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Agustin Calleri.

Jiri Novak was next to book his place in the last four with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 over Thai Paradorn Srichaphan in a game dominated by big serving. Srichaphan had taken the first set after breaking in the first game of the match, but Novak's greater consistency took him through and he won the third set without dropping a single point on his serve as Srichaphan began to tire.

The Czech is now level with Henman and Carlos Moya in the race for the Shanghai Masters.

Novak will face Fabrice Santoro for a place in the final after the French qualifier surprisingly defeated the No 12 seed, Roger Federer of Switzerland.