Andre Agassi's march to the top of the tennis world took another strong turn Saturday when he dismantled MaliVai Washington 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals of the San Jose Open.
"Right now, I'm not struggling at all," Agassi said. "It's a joy to be out there and a joy to be playing. I've been saying that for seven months now, and there's no reason I can't do it for a few more."Agassi will play the winner of Saturday night's Jim Courier-Michael Chang match in today's final.
Top-seeded in the tournament and ranked No. 2 in the world, the 24-year-old Agassi has gone 33-2 in match play since starting his drive to win the U.S. Open as an unseeded player last September.
"He looks the same, appears to be the same to me," said Washington, who beat Agassi in straight sets last year in Atlanta. `He's always produced. But the difference is now he's producing it week after week."
In 1995, Agassi has won 29 of 30 sets he has played. He waited until a late break to take the first set Saturday against Washington, who led 4-3 before losing nine out of the next 11 games - and the match.
Neither player had lost a service break in the tournament coming into the game, but Agassi broke Washington four times. Agassi also lost a break early in the second set, and finding himself down 2-1, it forced him to regroup.
"I really didn't feel in control of the match until I broke him at 5-2," Agassi said.
Washington, who in 1992 reached No. 11, knows he'll have to start winning against Top 10 players again if he hopes to improve on his current No. 40 ranking.
"I'm happy with the way the week went," Washington said. "but that's the only way to get back to the top 10, or top 20. Once you start beating top 10 guys, then your confidence grows."
At the time of their match in Atlanta last year, Agassi was ranked just ahead of Washington. Now it's No. 40 vs. No. 2. The 25-year-old Washington still hopes for the kind of career turnaround Agassi has accomplished.
"He should just start to concentrate on improving, not winning matches," Agassi said. "I think Mal's better than his rating."
The $328,000 tournament at the San Jose Arena is sponsored by Sybase, a computer software firm.