Roger Federer really doesn't make any bones about it. He's an indoor player. What else is there to be when you're from Basel, in the Swiss mountains? Wind is not one of his favorite things.

Andre Agassi grew up in a desert. Wind is no stranger to him. And he hits big, and he has very streamlined mechanics.

And he had seen his best of five match converted into a best-of-three-plus-two-more, played in a howling, swirling wind. Was there ever a better recipe for him to beat Roger Federer?

It was about as close as it could be. Indeed, they ended up even on the second day of the match; Federer, in effect, won on the strength of the extra set he had won the day before. The fourth set went to serve to start, and then, suddenly, Federer was having all sorts of trouble winning points on his own serve. After a bunch of deuces, Agassi broke, then served out the set, and we were even.

The fifth set followed almost the same script, save that Federer served first. The Swiss seemed to have gotten used to the extremely windy conditions, and was able to hold fairly. And then -- could Agassi have gotten nervous? He was the one with the rocky service game, and Federer broke, and served out a win 6-3 2-6 7-5 3-6 6-3.

And that means that Agassi, #7 coming in, will stay right there. He does climb from #9 to #8 in the Race. As for Federer, well, you know where he stands in the rankings.

Meanwhile, Tim Henman was bumping Guillermo Coria off the #3 ranking. Unlike Federer/Roddick, whose match was interrupted just after a set ended, Henman's match was stopped just before the end, and it cost him as Dominik Hrbaty broke in the third game back. But Henman righted ship in the fourth and picked up a 6-1 7-5 5-7 6-2 win to earn his first U. S. Open semifinal.

And that meant that the #3 ranking would be contested between Henman (who has never quite been that high) and Lleyton Hewitt, who came into the day at #5, and #6 in safe points, but was the only other Top Ten player still active. Hewitt had the easiest quarterfinal of all, topping Tommy Haas 6-2 6-2 6-2.

Given the evening forecast, you have to wonder why they didn't make some sort of attempt to start the evening match on time (7:00 p.m. it says on the web site. As best we can tell, that's not when they expect the matches to start, but when they expect the players to wake up or something). That late start was hardly good news for Andy Roddick, who had just double-faulted to hand Joachim Johansson a 3-2 lead when the rain started.

Things didn't really get much better for Roddick in the resumption, which came about an hour later. It was not exactly a match for those who like long rallies. Johansson might almost adopt his motto from the Foreign Legion: "You are a tennis player in order to serve, and the Tour will take you where you can serve." He served out the set, and -- after himself facing several deuces early in the second set -- picked up another break. Twice it appeared Roddick would get the break back -- twice, in fact, he had Johansson 0-40 -- but the Swede saved it both times. It wasn't until the third that Roddick finally found his chance, and earned his first break, and served out the set. And then, in game three of set four, Roddick broke again, and, in effect, the match was even. Especially since Roddick broke in the next game also as Johansson seemed to be wilting. And that going into the first fifth set of his career.

He had more of a second wind than you might have thought. They went to serve for eight games. In the ninth, Johansson was up 40-15, lost three straight points, but survived, and Roddick had to serve to stay in the match. And he instantly handed Johansson three match points. Roddick saved two, but made an error on the third, and Johansson was in the semifinal 6-4 6-4 3-6 2-6 6-4.

For Roddick, the loss does not immediately threaten his #2 ranking. But he could lose the #2 Race spot if Lleyton Hewitt wins the Open. And Hewitt can only gain points this fall.

As for Johansson, he's up to #16 in the rankings, and higher in the Race -- and while people have been calling him a fluke, after that performance, are they sure?

If you were watching the schedule on the Open web site, you might have gotten the wrong impression about some of the day's doubles matches. Both were semifinals, not quarterfinals. And both went to the seeded pairs. Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor, seeded #3, are up to #2/#3 in the world after beating Benneteau and Mahut in two tiebreaks; if they can win the final, they'll bump Jonas Bjorkman off the top spot. Standing in their way are #13 seeds Leander Paes and David Rikl, who are up to #14 and #17 after their 6-3 6-3 win over Nadal and Robredo. Paes, who has won doubles Slams, will be #13 if he wins, and Rikl, who does not have a Slam title though he reached the final of Wimbledon 2001 with Jiri Novak, would rise to #16.