Australian Open: Rafter reaches Australian Open semi-finals

Patrick Rafter beat Dominik Hrbaty in four sets to advance to the semi-finals of the Australian Open and set up a showdown with Andre Agassi.

Defending champion Agassi beat Todd Martin in straight sets, while local favourite Rafter won his match 6-2 6-7 7-5 6-0.

Rafter, seeded 12, in winning 12 of the last 13 games, was helped by the collapse by Hrbaty.

The Slovak double-faulted twice when he was broken in the third set's seventh game and once more when he was broken in the 11th.

"This is what it feels like, huh?" said Rafter, who has won two US Opens and was runner-up last year at Wimbledon, but never had done better at the Australian than the fourth round in 1995.

"It's been a long time. It feels very satisfying being at home doing it."