Tennis: Agassi breaks through for win over Kucera

The unseeded Kucera suffered his first loss since 1998 against Agassi, the five-time Grand Slam winner whose game is catching fire this week as he solidifies his form after a two-month absence from the sport.

Agassi won a round at last week's Stuttgart Masters, but has some alive at the Palais des Sports, where he last appeared in 1991 as a member of a losing American Davis Cup finals squad.

Kucera from Slovakia, coached by former pro Miloslav "Big Cat" Mecir, had beaten the 30-year-old Agassi the last two times they played, including a second-round shock to the defending champion at this year's French Open.

Agassi next awaits a winner from Frenchman Arnaud Clement - another danger-man for the American - and Dutch qualifying surprise packet Raemon Sluitter.

Clement knocked Agassi out in the second round of the U.S. Open in late August, the veteran's last appearance on a court prior to Stuttgart.

Agassi has been pleased with his improving form all week and was particularly satisfied to have beaten the dangerous Kucera.

"The first set was top tennis, even if the score was a bit one- sided," he said. "I came up with the right shot at the right time in the second set and had a bit of luck. It was a good match to win."

Kucera, playing in his fourth quarter-final of the season, went down two breaks with no hopes in the opening set.

In the second he annulled an Agassi lead but dropped his own serve in the final game. Along the way in the concluding game he saved two match points, the first from a service winner, the second on an Agassi error.

But the second seed from Las Vegas came through for the victory as Kucera produced a double-fault for a third Agassi match point and then returned a shot wide to lose.

Top seed Gustavo Kuerten was facing Australian Patrick Rafter in a re-play of last month's Hong Kong quarter-final, which two-time U.S. Open champion Rafter won.

Kuerten, a double Roland Garros trophyholder, is looking for the first indoor title of his career after winning his first on outdoor hardcourt last summer in Indianapolis. dpa bs bw

(dpa)