KEY BISCAYNE, Fla., April 1 -- Andre Agassi's expressions told a more complete story than the scoreboard, which, at times, seemed to be flat-out lying. This was never a close match. Even while hanging on dearly to his serve, matching Switzerland's Roger Federer game-for-game early in both sets of Friday night's semifinal at the Nasdaq-100 Open, Agassi seemed to sense his fading predicament.
As Federer coolly and methodically swatted down threats, Agassi's level of frustration and irritation bubbled over. He stalked around the baseline shaking his head, grimacing, looking like the loser he was about to become.
World No. 1 Roger Federer is pumped up after turning back Andre Agassi in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open.
(Marc Serota -- Reuters)
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This was his tournament, his adopted home turf, and Federer, the world's No. 1 player, swept him off of it as placidly as a pile of leaves in the fall. With the 6-4, 6-3 victory, Federer advanced to Sunday's final against Spain's Rafael Nadal, who defeated countryman David Ferrer by the same margin in the early semifinal, and extended a few astonishing marks: Federer is 47-1 since last year's U.S. Open, 30-1 this season and has won 21 straight matches.
"You can play a quality match . . . but he has the ability at any given moment to play spectacular tennis and break something open," Agassi, 34, said. "There's a number of departments of his game that are arguably better than anybody's."
Nadal, the 29th seed, has only this going for him: He defeated Federer here in the third round last year.
When Agassi got close, collecting five break points in the seventh game of the second set, Federer responded with almost alarming flashes of power. After falling behind 15-40 with the score tied at 3 in the second set, Federer, 24, evened the score with back-to-back aces -- two of his eight. On Agassi's fifth break point, Federer smashed a service winner, then followed it with two forehand winners to claim the game.
"The guy moves incredibly well," said Agassi, who has won this tournament six times. "His forehand is dangerous from anywhere on the court. When you think you're in good position, you're not. . . . He's playing levels above everybody else."
Even so, it took time for Federer to get an edge on Agassi, each holding serve through eight games of the first set. After going up 5-4, Federer took advantage of several unforced errors to break Agassi for the first time. That gave him the first set and left the pro-Agassi crowd of 12,772 murmuring with concern.
"When you have all of those tough rallies, tough situations, you really have to stay calm," Federer said. "That's what I've been doing for the last few years now."
Though Agassi seemed anything but calm, he kept hanging on, albeit precariously. In the second game of the second set, he fended off four break points, claiming the game on a Federer backhand that sailed wide. The two stayed on serve through seven games, but then Agassi fell behind 15-40 and Federer seemed determined not to miss another opportunity.
An Agassi backhand that struck the net gave Federer a 5-3 lead, and the crowd seemed to sense an all but automatic invitation to Sunday's final.
"I really had the feeling this was near-to-as-good as I can play tonight," Federer said. "The way I'm playing now, of course, leaves me very confident."
Federer has won 17 finals in a row heading into his match against Nadal, a crafty left-hander who has two tour victories this season and a 22-4 record.
"I'm used to these big occasions," Federer said. "I'm going to hope that's going to carry me through. . . . But I know I have a tough opponent waiting for me."
Nadal's opponent, however, in Agassi's estimation, compares favorably to all-time great Pete Sampras. Other than losing to Marat Safin in this year's Australian Open semifinals, Federer -- who won last year's Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open -- has suffered no missteps.
"There were a lot of lapses with Pete," Agassi said. "With Roger, there's just no relief, you know. In every department, you have to be concentrating and ready to go because he will take advantage of you on any part of the court."
