blasted aside their opponents while Pat Rafter rode a wave of local support to also reach the Australian Open semi-finals yesterday.

Agassi played almost flawless tennis to rout fellow American Todd Martin 7-5 6-3 6-4 but will have a nation against him after Rafter, Australia's favourite player, beat Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty 6-2 6-7 7-5 6-0.

Rafter fought back from a break down in the third set to win 12 of the last 13 games and reach the last four for the first time in nine attempts and raise hopes of a first local champion since Mark Edmondson in 1976.

"It's been a long time,'' Rafter said. "It feels great to be here, it's very satisfying. I know I'm hitting the ball well enough and I've got nothing to be scared about.'' In the women's draw, Davenport crushed Russian eighth-seed Anna Kournikova 6-4 6-2.

She will play Jennifer Capriati in a repeat of last year's semi-final after she beat fourth seed Monica Seles 5-7 6-4 6-3.

Sixth seed Agassi left tour veteran Martin floundering against his fearsome return of serve and precision groundstrokes to advance to his 20th Grand Slam semi-final.

Martin had to work hard for every point and managed to break Agassi to lead 4-3 in the final set. But he immediately surrendered the advantage and Agassi quickly raced to victory.

Agassi sealed his win on his second match point when he ended a stirring rally with a backhand lob.

It was his 13th win in 18 matches against Martin, who upset third seed and former world number one Pete Sampras in the previous round.

Agassi's clash with Rafter is now shaping as the definitive match of the tournament.

Rafter beat Agassi in last year's Wimbledon semi-finals but has said he plans to retire at the end of the year and the whole of Australia wants to see him go out a winner.

"Pat is appreciated and loved by fans across the world,'' Agassi said. "I just kind of wish he had retired this year and then I wouldn't have to worry about him. If this is his last Australian Open, he's certainly going out giving it his best go.'' Rafter has won two US Opens, made a Wimbledon final and a French Open semi-final but had never made it past the fourth round at Melbourne Park before this year.

But after comfortably winning the first set, Rafter suddenly found himself in trouble against Hrbaty, who had beaten world number two Marat Safin in the fourth round.

The 14th seeded Hrbaty won the second set in a tiebreak and led 4-1 in the third as he managed to pin Rafter to the baseline and keep him from playing his normal serve-and-volley game.

But Rafter quickly regrouped and turned the match around as Hrbaty's game fell to pieces. He took the final set in just 22 minutes to become the first Australian since Mark Woodforde in 1996 to reach the Melbourne Park semi-finals.

"Andre's another kettle of fish altogether and I'm going to have to serve better and hit my ground strokes better,'' he said.

"He's the sort of guy who can blow you straight off the court. If his eye's in, you don't want to play him.'' Local hero: Pat Rafter delighted the Australian crowd with his quarter-final victory over Slovakia's Dominic Hrbaty. -- AP