Agassi Holds Off Colbert’s Gambill

Jan-Michael Gambill is ranked 204th in the world, but Andre Agassi found the Colbert, Wash., player much more than a walkover Friday.

Agassi had trouble with Gambill, who served well, but Agassi used placement and rallies to win 7-5,7-6 (9-7) in the quarterfinals of the Sybase Open at the San Jose Arena.

“At one stage I missed a lot of first serves, but I was returning the ball well,” said Agassi. “When it gets to the tie-breaker, flip a coin because anything can happen.”

Second-seeded Michael Chang started strong and finished strong in defeating seventh-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany, 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4. Chang meets Agassi in the semifinals.

Top-seeded Pete Sampras defeated eight-seeded Mark Woodforde of Australia 6-0, 6-2 in a quarterfinal match that took 45 minutes to complete.

In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, top seed Jonas Bjorkman survived a tough first-set challenge from Spain’s Carlos Moya and went on to a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory in their Dubai Open quarterfinal match.

Bjorkman’s opponent in the semifinals will be Alex Corretja, who beat fellow Spaniard Carlos Costa 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-4.

South African Wayne Ferreira meets Spain’s Felix Mantilla in the other semi.