Andre Agassi’s 17 years of experience could not prevent him being dumped out of the French Open quarter-finals at the hands of Argentina’s seventh seed Guillermo Coria.
Coria, 21, who admitted two days ago that he used to love his ‘idol’ Agassi’s long hair and colourful on-court attire when he was a child, outclassed the Las Vegan with some explosive shots to win 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 in two hours and 32 minutes.
Agassi’s legendary fighting spirit prevailed in the first set as the battling American came back from a 4-1 deficit before levelling 4-4.
He then had two break points on Coria’s serve and converted the second when the Argentinian’s backhand landed wide.
Leading 5-4 on his serve, Agassi wrapped up the first set in 42 minutes on his second attempt thanks to a winning backhand.
In the second set, however, Coria fought back to take a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Despite coming back to 5-3 Agassi lost the second set 6-3 when he returned Coria’s shot into the net.
That gave the Argentinian a huge lift and he then broke Agassi twice in the third to grab a 5-2 lead after an exciting rally which saw him stretch from one side of the court to the other before Agassi, who had come to the net, netted his backhand drop shot.
Coria continued to display his finest shots to outclass Agassi and seal the third set 6-2 after just 22 minutes of play.
In the fourth set both men looked on edge as they broke each other’s serve to reach 2-2.
But it was Coria who got the opening after he broke Agassi to take a 5-4 lead, with his serve to come.
A wide forehand from Agassi offered two match points to the Argentinian who converted straight away when Agassi returned wide.
Coria said: “This was a dream for me to beat Agassi, not to mention to reach the semis here. I feel very well physically.”