Agassi’s fine form continues

“It almost doesn’t feel right if I’m not playing in the finals,” he said of the Bay Area tournament, in which he holds a 43-6 career record, despite losing the last two finals.

Agassi, who survived a match point in yesterday’s quarter-final, wasted little time in jumping on top of the third-seeded Blake, who be at Agassi in their last encounter at an event in Washington last summer.

He broke the 23-year-old in the first game of the match and won the first six points. But Blake, ranked a career-best 24th heading into San Jose and possessing one of the most lethal forehands in the game, broke back to even the set at 2-2.

By the middle of the set, however, Agassi’s relentless attacking of blake’S backhand started to pay off, and he broke the young American again at 4-4 when he ripped a short forehand down the line for one of his 22 winners.

“The last time I played james he taught me a thing or two, so I came out here with a healthy respect for his game,” Agassi said.

In the second set, Blake began to press and his game unraveled. His serve deserted him and sprayed a series of baseline errors, many on his vaunted forehand. Agassi took advantage of his 41-percent first-serve percentage in the set, breaking him twice.

Serving at 1-5, Blake barely moved as Agassi rocketed two of his first serves back for winners. “Don’t you ever get tired of doing that?” a frustrated Blake screamed.

Overall, Agassi won 81 per cent of his first serve points, converted four of seven break points and made only 18 unforced errors to Blake’s 24.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played anyone who took me apart like that,” Blake said after the 1hr, 5min contest. “That’s the best player in the world right now. I don’t care what the rankings say.”

Italian No. 1 Sanguinetti, who outlasted unseeded Gimel Stob in a seesaw battle, is seeking his third career ATP title. It is his sixth final overall and his first in San Jose. However, he is 0-3 against agassi.

“I lost all three times I’ve played him,” said the 69th ranked Sanguinetti. “I have to do something different against him, probably make him play more balls.”

Venus enters final

AMTWERP: Defending champion and top seed Venus Williams brushed aside the challenge of Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova to set up a meeting with No.2 seed Kim Clijsters in the final of the $585,000 WTA event here.

Williams came away 6-1, 6-4 winner after Clijsters earlier ousted Belgian compatriot and third seed Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Clijsters overcame a bout of flu, which reportedly gave her a sleepless night Friday, to win the semi-final 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) against Henin-Hardenne, the runner-up here last year to Williams.

World No.2 Williams flew through her first set wrapping it up in 22 minutes with an ace slammed down at 185 kph.

But the Slovak world No.5 lifted her game in the second to hold level with the American at 3-3. Hantuchova then saved three match points at 5-3 but finally fell in the next game.

Clijsters, 19, raced to victory in the first set in just under 30 minutes but her opponent held on tighter in the second, and managed to avoid an even quicker defeat when she saved the match at 5-2 to force a tiebreak.

However Clijsters, whose boyfriend, world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, was among the 14,000 crowd, stepped up a gear to clinch the tiebreak 7-3 and set up a final with Williams, who has won three of their past five meetings.