Rain leaves Federer-Agassi clash in balance

The remnants of Hurricane Frances swept into New York to leave the eagerly-awaited US Open quarter-final hanging in the balance.

The remnants of Hurricane Frances swept into New York to leave the eagerly-awaited US Open quarter-final between top seed Roger Federer and twice former champion Andre Agassi hanging in the balance on Wednesday.

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Former champion Lindsay Davenport and ninth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova dodged the showers to set up a semi-final clash in the women's singles but the rain returned to interrupt Federer and Agassi with the Swiss player 6-3 2-6 7-5 up.

Fifth seed Tim Henman was also on the verge of a first US Open semi-final appearance, leading 22nd seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-1 7-5 4-5.

When play finally began on the Arthur Ashe Court, soon after 1945 local time (2345 GMT), Federer and Agassi were greeted by a half-empty stadium.

The predicted electric atmosphere did not take long to materialise though as world number one Federer, looking to become the first man to win three grand slam titles in the same year since Swede Mats Wilander in 1988, took the opening set.

But as the stadium filled up, so Agassi, the darling of the New York crowd, lifted his game.

The 34-year-old, champion in 1994 and 1999, began to target the Federer backhand and it paid dividends when the American broke for a 2-0 lead in the second set.

CONSTANT PRESSURE

Under constant pressure from the depth of Agassi's groundstrokes, Federer began to make mistakes as he dropped the set.

Roared on by the crowd, Agassi had a chance in the second game of the third set but Federer saved a break point with an ace and though the veteran American continued to play the better tennis, he was unable to press home his advantage.