Argentine Guilllermo Coria outpaced 1999 French Open champion Andre Agassi 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final on Tuesday.
The seventh seed, overawed at first against his childhood hero on centre court, lost the first set but then showed his pace and claycourt skills to win in two hours and 32 minutes. Coria is the most successful player on clay this season, winning the Hamburg Masters and reaching the final in Monte Carlo.
Former world number one Agassi also lost in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 2001 and last year.In another upset, Dutch debutant Martin Verkerk pulled off an extraordinary five-set victory over Spanish fourth seed Carlos Moya to reach semi-finals.
Verkerk's 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 4-6, 8-6 win on Court Suzanne Lenglen set up a semi-final clash with Coria and it was just reward for a performance of grit and resilience that belied the Dutchman's relative inexperience. Verkerk, ranked 46 and playing in only his third Grand Slam tournament, roared into a two-set lead with some clubbing groundstrokes but double-faulted to gift Moya the third set. The Spaniard, French Open champion in 1998, took the fourth but 24-year-old Verkerk dug deep to complete a superb victory after three hours and 52 minutes of sapping baseline exchanges. Playing only his second five-setter at tour level, Verkerk broke decisively at 6-6 in the decider with a beautiful forehand winner down the line. After serving out for victory, the Dutchman collapsed backwards on to the court, a smile of disbelief on his face. "It is something amazing to me to beat Carlos Moya in a five-set thriller," he said. "It is unbelievable. It's amazing. I don't know how it happened." Verkerk is only the fifth man since tennis turned professional in 1968 to reach the semi-finals in his first appearance at Roland Garros. The last Dutchman to reach the French Open semi-finals was Richard Krajicek in 1993.
