Saturday, July 29 2006 15:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Los Angeles: Eight time Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi, who was making his final Los Angeles appearance, lost 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to Fernando Gonzalez in a quarter-final match at the ATP Los Angeles event.

Gonzalez, who turns 26 on Saturday, needed just one hour, 53 minutes to improve to 2-0 lifetime against Agassi, who is retiring after next month's US Open. "It was a high standard match," Agassi said.

"He stepped it up at the end of the game with some pretty spectacular shots. It is a disappointing loss for me," he said.

The 36-year-old Agassi, whose victory here last year gave him his fourth Los Angeles title, survived three match points in the third set, but couldn't hold serve in the final game as Gonzalez clinched the victory with a backhand winner at the University of California Los Angeles courts.

Gonzalez, of Chile, won their only other meeting 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in Washington in 2003.

The bronze medallist from the 2004 Athens Olympics will face either top-seeded American Andy Roddick or No. 8 Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in Saturday's semis.

"He absolutely murdered some shots," Agassi said of Gonzalez.

"He changes the pace well and mixes up his serve a lot," he said.

"I hung in there. I just wasn't getting enough looks on points on his serve," he said.

"I might have been able to get a little more aggressive and taken a few more chances," he said.

Agassi, who was playing in just his second quarter-final of the year, announced in June at Wimbledon that he would retire after the US Open, which starts in August.

"I am at peace with my career," Agassi said.

"I feel great about the decision, and I look forward to the summer," he said.

With temperatures hitting 43 degrees C (110 degrees F) on the court, Agassi withered in the final two games of the match. But he blamed the loss more on his mistakes and Gonzalez's strong game rather than the hot conditions.

"The heat of his forehand was more of a factor," Agassi said.

Gonzalez rallied in the ninth game of the third set to hold serve. Down 15-40, he fought off two service break points by firing a forehand winner and then an ace as he jumped out to a 5-4 lead.

Gonzalez has seven career ATP titles with his most recent coming last year in Basel, Switzerland.

Taking the court later in the day in another quarter-final is Germany's Tommy Haas, who faces American Paul Goldstein.

Top seed Roddick is scheduled to play Tursunov but Roddick suffered a left lower back strain on Thursday and was waiting until later Friday before deciding whether to go ahead with his match.

The remaining quarter-final pitted Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty against American Robby Ginepri.