(2) LINDSAY DAVENPORT (US) beat (9) JULIE HALARD-DECUGIS (Fr) 6-1, 6-2.—Women’s Doubles Quarter-finals(1) LISA RAYMOND, (US) and RENNAE STUBBS (Aus) beat Erika De Lone (US) and Nicole Pratt (Aus) 6-2, 6-2. (3) MARTINA HINGIS (Swit) and MARY PIERCE (Fr) beat Debbie Graham (US) and Nana Miyagi (Japan) 6-3, 6-1. Explaining why she has relaunched her career, she said: “I didn’t accomplish everything that I wanted. If he plays like that in the semi-final, Andre will have trouble.”In the women’s draw, Jennifer Capriati, the former teenage prodigy who is slowly rebuilding her career after her dark years which included convictions for shoplifting and drug possession, will compete tomorrow in her first Grand Slam semi-final for nine years. Yesterday she annihilated Ai Sugiyama, of Japan, 6-0, 6-2.Capriati, who faces her fellow American Lindsay Davenport, was 15 when she last played in a Grand Slam semi-final, at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1991.

He was overwhelmed by Sampras’s powerful serve and a series of elegant down-the-line backhands. After a brief hiccup when he dropped his second service game, Sampras recovered to take the first set in 41 minutes and did not face another break point for the rest of the match.Woodruff said afterwards: “I felt like I was playing a one-to-one with Michael Jordan. He starts off slowly, gradually picks up speed, and it’s difficult to stop him.”Arazi, one of two Moroccans in the quarter-finals, was asked: “Did you think you were playing a human being today on court or did he look like an alien sometimes?”"I don’t know,” came the bemused reply.Woodruff put up a spirited fight against Sampras, but to no avail. He took the first set after breaking Arazi’s service in the third game, prevailed again after an exchange of breaks in the second and went on to dominate the third.It was all over in 93 minutes, and Arazi, who had not lost a single set in the previous four rounds, said: “He’s like a train. He’s just a difficult player to beat, period.”Sampras, who memorably thrashed Agassi at Wimbledon last year, returned the compliment a few hours later “He is playing about as well as he can,” he said “It’s going to be tough, no question.

The left-handed Moroccan, one of the most popular men on the circuit, played shamelessly to the crowd, tossing his racket in the air, bouncing balls off his feet and, after one gruelling exchange, sitting down at courtside in feigned exhaustion.Arazi, ranked 36 in the world, also hit some flashy shots that wrong-footed Agassi, but it was a lopsided battle from the start, the American winning so easily that at moments he almost looked bored. Hopefully we can go out on Thursday and play some good tennis and if we’re both playing well at the same time, it’s about as good as it gets.”The rivalry between the two men will not be the only motivating factor; both are chasing a place in the history books. Agassi wants to be the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to reach the final of four successive Grand Slams, while Sampras is aiming to go one better than Roy Emerson, with whom he shares the current record of 12 Grand Slam titles.Their quarter-finals could not have been more different, the Agassi-Arazi match a colourful clash with long and exciting rallies, the Sampras-Woodruff tie a sober and scrappy affair. Agassi is in awesome form at present, playing the best tennis of his career, while Sampras, who has won 17 of their previous encounters, has an ominous spring in his step after a near-perfect match against Woodruff.Agassi said that he would have preferred to play Sampras in Sunday’s final.

“I think we both feel like the other one is the potential guy in our way,” he said. “Every time we’re playing, it’s at a stage of the tournament when he’s probably the least vulnerable. It materialised after they disposed of their respective quarter-final opponents in straight sets yesterday, Agassi beating Arazi 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 and Sampras inflicting a 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 defeat on Chris Woodruff, the 26-year-old from Tennessee who knocked out Britain’s Tim Henman in the fourth round.The top-seeded Agassi and Sampras, the No 3, are looking forward to their 29th duel in just over a decade. Hicham Arazi can spin a racket on his fingertip, twirl it high up into the air and catch it again, but he cannot beat Andre Agassi, and after watching the world No 1 squash the Moroccan like a fly at the Australian Open yesterday, you wonder who can.
The one person who springs to mind is Pete Sampras, and it will not be long before that theory is tested, for the twogiants of the men’s game are set to slug it out in a semi-final tomorrow that is being heralded as the final before the final.The showdown between the two Americans at Melbourne Park is a little premature thanks to the way that the draw has fallen, but it is a tantalising prospect none the less. Hicham Arazi can spin a racket on his fingertip, twirl it high up into the air and catch it again, but he cannot beat Andre Agassi, and after watching the world No 1 squash the Moroccan like a fly at the Australian Open yesterday, you wonder who can.