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It’s been said his career has come to a close. But Andre Agassi put up a fight Friday night to convince any spectator otherwise.

He still fell to Germany’s Tommy Haas – 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), 6-3 – but was clearly the crowd’s favorite at the quarterfinals of the Mercedes-Benz Cup, receiving multiple standing ovations, including one as he departed the court after Haas advanced to the semis.

“It still hurts just as bad,” Agassi said of the loss. “It just doesn’t last as long.”

The pain of defeat might not last long, but the match itself certainly did: two and a half hours of serve-and-volleying, long ground stroke rallies and a fair amount of aces for each. It all amounted to a high-quality and highly emotional three-set match.

When asked about Haas’ near-perfect ground strokes and the German’s ability to return Agassi’s shots in a controlled yet strong manner, Agassi quipped that the reporter was describing the water he was drowning in.

“I played pretty well but not well enough,” he said.

The first set appeared to belong to Agassi, as he came to the court with confidence and quickly built a 5-1 lead. But Haas soon found his way back into the game, winning five consecutive games and breaking Agassi’s serve twice to take the lead at 6-5.

But the crowd began to show its preference for Agassi, cheering during the break, and Haas hit two ground strokes long in the next game, which Agassi won to force a tiebreaker.

Haas’ ability to put consecutive points under his belt was indomitable, though, as he took the tiebreaker under his control at 1-2, winning five consecutive points and ultimately taking the game 7-5 with a service ace.

Agassi and Haas traded games in the second set until Agassi fought off match points to square the set at 6-6, to which he was regaled with cheers and a standing ovation from the crowd. Points again were traded in the tiebreaker, but Agassi proved why he has a spot with the greatest tennis players in all of history as he rebounded – from a Haas crosscourt backhand Agassi only could watch zoom by him – to pull ahead at 6-6 in the tiebreaker and win by two.

Haas, though, wasn’t broken by the missed opportunity in the least, taking control of the third set 3-2. Agassi squeezed in one more game to make the score 3-5, causing the crowd to rise and chant “Andre” repeatedly. But Haas was on an unbreakable roll, and Agassi’s fate seemed already sealed, despite the crowd’s apparent desire to see otherwise.

“I looked up to Agassi since I was a little boy,” Haas said. “This victory is right up there with my greatest. … Beating Andre is always high quality.

“This is a very big victory for me and something I will always cherish.”

Haas advances to play Cyril Saulnier in the semifinals of the tournament today.