Drop the retirement talk. Andre Agassi showed the kid - and everyone else - that he still has a whole lot left.

Agassi took another huge step in his late-summer resurgence, beating second-seeded Andy Roddick in an all-American semifinal Saturday night at the Cincinnati Masters.

"If you know one thing, it's not to write Andre Agassi off," said Roddick, the tournament's defending champion. "I'm disappointed that I lost, but part of me is happy. He let his racquet do the talking, and it's saying something."

The 7-5, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (2) victory sent the 34-year-old Agassi into his first ATP tournament final since last November at the Tennis Masters Cup. He'll play 10th-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia for the championship on Sunday (Monday AEST).

Hewitt overpowered unseeded Spainiard Tommy Robredo with his serve in the other semifinal, rolling to a 6-3, 6-2 victory.

The evening match pitted two players with a warm relationship. Agassi befriended Roddick when he was starting on the tour as a teenager, but their meetings on the court have been generally one-sided - Agassi has won five of six.

This one meant a lot more to the 11th-seeded Agassi, who had to miss Wimbledon because of an inflamed hip and arrived in Cincinnati still looking to regain his touch.

The three-set semifinal tested his stamina, his mettle and his confidence. He aced the final exam, closing it out with an untouched serve down the middle.

Then, he giddily skipped onto the court and acknowledge an ovation with a wave of his hand and a pump of his fist.

"Every day I'm answering questions about retirement - except for tonight," Agassi said. "That's my life right now."

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