The Associated Press

PARIS - Andre Agassi has reached the French Open semifinals only once in the past 11 years, so his loss in the quarterfinals wasn't a shock. The bigger surprise was that Agassi took the defeat so well.

The winner of eight Grand Slam titles has long been regarded as a sore loser. He stomped out of Roland Garros without talking to the media after being upset in 2000, and he hit a ball at a lineswoman after losing at Wimbledon the following year.

But Agassi took defeat graciously Tuesday, when No. 7-seeded Guillermo Coria outplayed him 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

"It's disappointing from a standpoint of not being able to win," Agassi said. "But some losses are easier to swallow based on what you feel you did or didn't do. ... He played the bigger points well and executed better. He deserved to win."

The 5-foot-9 Coria won thanks to better groundstrokes, better tactics and superior speed. He took the lead in every set and showed plenty of poise at the finish.

When Agassi sailed a forehand out on match point, Coria briefly fell to his knees, then ran to the net. He put his arm around Agassi, the player he idolized growing up in Argentina, before touching his head to the net cord.

"He's right up there with the best clay-courters," Agassi said. "Today he really was hitting a good variety of shots and executing real well."

In a matchup of two first-time Grand Slam semifinalists Friday, Coria will play unseeded Martin Verkerk. The 6-foot-3 Dutchman hit 27 aces to upset 1998 champion Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 4-6, 8-6.

"I don't know how it happened," Verkerk said. "I'm not realizing it maybe yet."

Coria, the 1999 French Open juniors champion, hit deep enough to keep Agassi on his heels and mixed in enough drop shots to keep him off balance.

The Argentine took the lead in every set, but Agassi kept up the pressure. He rallied from a break down twice in the final set before Coria closed out the win.

"He's a warrior," Coria said. "I knew I had to make him run."

Coria did plenty of running too but still looked fresh at the finish, even though he was playing for the third day in a row.

"I just forgot my fatigue," Coria said. "I really wanted to win this match."

The oldest entrant in the 128-man tournament, Agassi may not have too many chances left at Roland Garros, where he won in 1999 to complete a career Grand Slam. The field is filled with Spaniards and South Americans who thrive on long rallies and long matches, and the list of title contenders seems to grow longer each year.

But that doesn't seem to faze Agassi.

"To suggest that I couldn't overcome that and win it - that I don't believe," he said. "I always believe I can find a way. So next year I'll try to figure it out again."

Women

The women's final four is set, and Serena Williams was dominant in a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Amelie Mauresmo, the last French player in the tournament. Williams won 16 of the opening 19 points and finished with a 24-5 edge in winners.

"There just comes a time when everyone has to stop and get serious," Williams said. "Usually, the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam is when I put in a new gear and say to myself, 'I have a chance to win this tournament.' "

Mauresmo was one of two players to beat Williams this year; the other was Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, Williams' semifinal opponent. Henin-Hardenne topped Chanda Rubin 6-3, 6-2 and is projected to pass Venus Williams for No. 3 in the rankings.

Asked about playing Serena, Henin-Hardenne said: "I will feel a little bit intimidated. But we'll see on the court. We can talk a lot. It's on the court that we will have the answer."

The other women's semifinal is 2001 runner-up Kim Clijsters, another Belgian, against unseeded Nadia Petrova of Russia.

She's also bidding for a calendar year Grand Slam, something that won't happen in men's tennis this year, because Agassi won the Australian Open.

"She's bigger, stronger, faster and hits the ball better," Agassi said. "So it's hard to picture her losing."

When Agassi won the French Open to complete his career Grand Slam in 1999, Coria won the junior title at Roland Garros. Their match Tuesday was Agassi's 999th, Coria's 127th. It was Agassi's 31st major quarterfinal, Coria's first.

"Perhaps I made a few mistakes, but very, very few," Coria said. "Otherwise, I won't be able to win at this level."

Gilbert to coach Roddick

Andy Roddick has split with his longtime coach, Tarik Benhabiles, and will work with Agassi's former coach, Brad Gilbert, during the grass-court season heading into Wimbledon, Roddick's agent Ken Meyerson said.

Benhabiles, who reached No. 22 in the world when he represented France, began coaching Roddick in August 1999 and helped him rise from obscurity to the No. 6 world ranking.

French Open Results

Tuesday

At Stade Roland Garros

Paris

Purse: $15.39 million (Grand Slam)

Surface: Clay-Outdoor

Men

Singles

Quarterfinals

Guillermo Coria (7), Argentina, def. Andre Agassi (2), United States, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Martin Verkerk, Netherlands, def. Carlos Moya (4), Spain, 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 4-6. 8-6.

Doubles

Quarterfinals

Bob and Mike Bryan (3), United States, def. Massimo Bertolini, Italy, and Sebastian Prieto, Argentina, 6-1, 6-4.

Leander Paes, India, and David Rikl (5), Czech Republic, def. Mahesh Bhupathi, India, and Max Mirnyi (2), Belarus, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Women

Singles

Quarterfinals

Nadia Petrova, Russia, def. Vera Zvonareva (22), Russia, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Kim Clijsters (2), Belgium, def. Conchita Martinez (24), Spain, 6-2, 6-1.

Justine Henin-Hardenne (4), Belgium, def. Chanda Rubin (8), United States, 6-3, 6-2.

Serena Williams (1), United States, def. Amelie Mauresmo (5), France, 6-1, 6-2.

Mixed Doubles

Second Round

Cara and Wayne Black (4), Zimbabwe, def. Petra Mandula, Hungary, and Graydon Oliver, United States, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Nadia Petrova, Russia, and Paul Haarhuis, Netherlands, def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, and Jared Palmer (8), United States, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Elena Likhovtseva, Russia, and Mahesh Bhupathi (3), India, def. Liezel Huber, South Africa, and Pavel Vizner, Czech Republic, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3.

Quarterfinals

Paola Suarez, Argentina, and Todd Woodbridge (1), Australia, def. Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenia, and Bob Bryan, United States, 6-4, 6-3.

Senior Doubles

Round Robin

Men's Over 35

Anders Jarryd and Mikael Pernfors, Sweden, def. John McEnroe, United States, and Michael Stich, Germany, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2.

Andres Gomez, Ecuador, and Emilio Sanchez, Spain, def. Andrei Chesnokov, Russia, and Thierry Tulasne, France, 6-2, 6-1.

Jose-Luis Clerc, Argentina, and Jakob Hlasek, Switzerland, def. Guy Forget and Henri Leconte, France, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Men's Over 45

Peter McNamara, Australia, and Ilie Nastase, Romania, def. Brian Gottfried, United States, and Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Boys

Singles

Second Round

Novak Djokovic, Serbia-Montenegro, def. Chris Guccione (12), Australia, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Gyorgy Balazs (10), Hungary, def. Sebastien Louis, France, 6-4, 6-3.

Cyril Mokaiesch, France, def. Jarrett Chirico, United States, 6-4, 6-2.

Marko Baghdatis (1), Cyprus, def. Alex Kuznetsov, United States, 7-5, 6-3.

Stanislas Wawrinka (5), Switzerland, def. Konstantin Kravchuk, Russia, 6-4, 6-1.

Daniel Gimeno-Traver (7), Spain, def. Andreas Weber, Germany, 6-2, 6-2.

Andrew Murray (14), Britain, def. Gael Monfils, France, 6-4, 6-1.

Mathieu Montcourt (8), France, def. Jorge Aguilar, Chile, 6-1, 6-4.

Florin Mergea (9), Romania, def. Michail Zverev, Germany, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-5.

Brian Baker (6), United States, def. Roman Kutac, Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles

First Round

Jamie Baker and David Brewer, Britain, def. Romano Tatuhey and Coen van Keulen, Netherlands, 6-2, 7-5.

Jorge Aguilar, Chile, and Leonardo Kirche, Brazil, def. Haithem Abid, Tunisia, and Adrian Ungur, Romania, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

Rafael Arevalo and Jaime Cuellar, El Salvador, def. Brendon Evans, United States, and Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ukraine, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Frederico Gil, Portugal, and Chris Kwon, United States, def. Kim Sun-yong, and Suk Hyun-joon, South Korea, 6-4, 6-1.

Adam Feeney and Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Cyril Mokaiesch and Jean Baptiste Robin, France, 6-3, 6-4.

Brian Baker and Phillip Simmonds, United States, def. Gael Monfils and Josselyn Ouanna, France, 7-5, 6-2.

Second Round

Kamil Capkovic, Slovakia, and Lado Chikhladze, Georgia, def. Bruno Rosa, Brazil, and Fritz Wolmarans, South Africa, 6-2, 6-4.

Novak Djokovic, Serbia-Montenegro, and Vilim Visak, Croatia, def. Sebastian Rieschick and Michail Zverev, Germany, 6-2, 7-6 (7).

Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau, Romania, def. Nicolas Almagro and Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Spain, 7-5, 6-1.

Pablo Figueroa, Sweden, and Jacob Melskens, Denmark, def. Mathieu Montcourt and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Girls

Singles

Second Round

Emma Laine, Finland, def. Tatiana Golovin (4), France, 6-2, 6-3.

Shahar Peer, Israel, def. Jamea Jackson, United States, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Heidi El Tabakh, Egypt, def. Kristina Czafikova, Slovakia, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Katerina Bondarenko, Ukraine, def. Megan Falcon, United States, 6-2, 6-0.

Michaela Krajicek (3), Netherlands, def. Iris Ichim, United States, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Andrea Hlavackova, Czech Republic, def. Pauline Parmentier, France, 6-4, 6-4.

Third Round

Katerina Bohmova (7), Czech Republic, def. Vojislava Lukic (12), Serbia-Montenegro, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4.

Anna-Lena Groenefeld (2), Germany, def. Timea Bacsinszky, Switzerland, 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles

First Round

Julia Cohen and Krysty Marcio, United States, def. Mathilde Johansson and Anais Laurendon, France, 6-2, 6-4.

Virag Nemeth and Agnes Szavay, Hungary, def. Lara Giltinan, Australia, and Anna-Maria Zubori, France, 6-4, 6-1.

Megan Moulton-Levy, United States, and Katarina Zoricic, Canada, def. Montinee Tangphong and Thassha Vitayaviroj, Thailand, 7-6 (6), 7-5.

Marta Fraga and Adriana Gonzalez Penas, Spain, def. Kristina Czafikova, Slovakia, and Emma Laine, Finland, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.

Andrea Hlavackova, Czech Republic, and Aurelija Miseviciute, Lithuania, def. Audrey Laib and Sylvia Montero, France, 6-2, 6-4.

Eden Marama, New Zealand, and Nada Pavic, Croatia, def. Timea Bacsinszky, Switzerland, and Chan Yung-Jan, Taiwan, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Angelique Kerber, Germany, and Anna Tchakvetadze, Russia, def. Vojislava Lukic, Serbia-Montenegro, and Gabriela Ziliotto, Brazil, 6-4, 6-1.

Second Round

Iris Ichim and Jamea Jackson, United States, def. Shahar Peer, Israel, and Agnes Szatmari, Romania, 6-4, 6-1.

Katerina Bohmova, Czech Republic, and Michaela Krajicek, Netherlands, def. Casey Dellacqua and Adriana Szili, Australia, 6-2, 6-2.

Katerina Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Heidi El Tabakh, Egypt, def. Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium, and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

Sanaa Bhambri and Sania Mirza, India, def. Mari Andersson, Sweden, and Megan Falcon, United States, 6-1, 6-3.

French Open Show Court Schedule

Today

At Stade Roland Garros

Paris

Court Philippe Chatrier

Play begins at 6 a.m. EDT

Tommy Robredo (28), Spain, vs. Albert Costa (9), Spain

Juan Carlos Ferrero (3), Spain, vs. Fernando Gonzalez (19), Chile

Virginia Ruano Pascual, Spain, and Paola Suarez (1), Argentina, vs. Janette Husarova, Slovakia, and Barbara Schett (11), Austria