Agassi, Roddick Take Wrong Exit

Undoubtedly, there have been worse two-hour periods in the life of a tennis tournament, but memories are short, especially when two major drawing cards vanish on one afternoon.

Andre Agassi? His final ATP Tour appearance in Los Angeles ended just before 3 p.m. Friday when third-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile put a backhand into an open court, on his fourth match point, to defeat No. 5 Agassi, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, in the quarterfinals of the Countrywide Classic at UCLA.

Andy Roddick? A late-afternoon announcement confirmed what had been expected, that the top-seeded player would be unable to play his scheduled evening quarterfinal against No. 8 Dmitry Tursunov of Russia because of an injury.

Roddick was hurt in the third set of his second-round match against wild card Scott Oudsema on Thursday night. A tournament doctor called it a left lower-back strain, but the official announcement said Roddick pulled out because of a left-side muscle strain.

“You always want to finish a tournament on your terms and not pull out with an injury,” Roddick said in a statement. “It’s disappointing, but I need to really look at the big picture.

“It’s improved, but last night I had trouble taking my socks off after the match. I literally couldn’t bend over at all. There’s improvement, but certainly not enough to even consider playing.”

Roddick is scheduled to play next week in Washington, D.C., and will be given a Wednesday start to allow for more treatment. At this point, Agassi’s presence in that event is a far greater certainty than Roddick’s.

Agassi’s brief summer farewell, leading up to his final event before retirement, the U.S. Open, features his greatest hits, so to speak. He has won at UCLA four times, for instance, and has five titles in Washington.

But, next to his hometown of Las Vegas, it seems as though Agassi is most closely embraced by fans in Los Angeles. The 36-year-old gave the afternoon crowd of 6,678 a few more lasting memories, climbing back into a tough quarterfinal against the hard-hitting Chilean and saving three match points in the 10th game of the third set.

The crowd gave him a standing ovation after that effort on another sun-baked afternoon, trying to push the defending champion to one more improbable result. But Gonzalez, who, incidentally, ended Michael Chang’s career at the 2003 U.S. Open, simply had too much firepower.

“I don’t think you ever prepare yourself for the emotions of it,” said Agassi, who joked that the heat of Gonzalez’s forehand was far tougher than the on-court temperatures. “It’s a long time that you’ve done this and long time you’ve done it here. Like I said on the court, it’s not just a game you’re leaving, it’s the people you’ve shared this experience with. This has been such an important part of that process coming here. I’ll miss it dearly. A few more weeks that count.”

Trips to Los Angeles have been part of Agassi’s summer experience since he was a youngster, playing junior tournaments as he grew up with the likes of Pete Sampras and Chang.

“Southern California used to be the mecca of junior tennis,” he said. “This is where it all happened. ... It’s a special place. In some cases when I drive around here, I have more memories as a child than I do as an adult.”

Gonzalez, who turns 26 today, said he grew up watching Agassi, Sampras and Boris Becker, and said it was always “an honor playing against him.”

He mused about hearing Agassi’s long list of accomplishments during pre-match introductions.

“It’s tough to get in with Andre. ... When they present you, they say I won seven titles, a few things,” Gonzalez said, smiling. “Then Andre’s 60 titles, Grand Slams ... so you feel like nothing on the court.”

Gonzalez will play Tursunov in one semifinal tonight. In the other, 2004 champion and No. 6 Tommy Haas of Germany today will play Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia. Haas defeated Paul Goldstein, 6-3, 6-4, on Friday, and Hrbaty beat Robby Ginepri, 7-6 (0), 6-2.

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Today’s semifinals

At the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the UCLA campus:

Not before 3 p.m.

* Dominik Hrbaty vs. Tommy Haas

* Igor Kunitsyn/Dmitry Tursunov vs. Jeff Coetzee/Hrbaty

Not before 7:30

* Dmitry Tursunov vs. Fernando Gonzalez

* Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan vs. Paul Capdeville/Fernando Gonzalez