New-Look Agassi Can’t Beat Lendl

Andre Agassi wore black shorts. Mourning clothes, perhaps? Gone was the denim, gone was the Las Vegas-to-Manhattan smile, and gone were his chances of beating Ivan Lendl.

Agassi, who lost to Lendl in a 4-set semifinal at the U.S. Open, twice blew multiple break-point opportunities and lost again, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3, Friday night in the Nabisco Masters tennis tournament at Madison Square Garden.

So it was the same look, but a different look. The black shorts, Agassi said, were only a temporary replacement for his more familiar faded denim numbers.

“Just trying something different,” Agassi said.

The next time Agassi plays Lendl, what he should try to do differently is to take advantage of his chances when he gets them.

“When I got him down and had him on the verge, he came up with some great shots,” Agassi said. “When a guy does that, there’s not much you can do.”

Agassi breezed through Lendl in a 27-minute first set and, at 2-2 in the second, he held 3 break points when Lendl double-faulted to 15-40.

But Lendl came back and won the game, serving an ace, then forced Agassi into a tiebreaker in which Lendl won the last six points.

Agassi held 2 more break points at 1-1 in the third set but let his chance slip away again when Lendl served consecutive aces. When Lendl broke Agassi at 2-3, 15-40, Lendl went up a break, and that was all he needed.

“I had one chance and I took advantage of that,” said Lendl, who won his first match since the U.S. Open.

“I always got away,” he added. “It was a bit of bad luck for him because he hit so many good returns, but when I really needed it, I got it. In all honesty, I’m lucky to win the match.

But after he lost the first set before many of the 14,007 were in their seats, Lendl thought about rearranging his schedule for the evening.

“I was trying to figure out if I had time to see the second period of the hockey game,” he said.

Lendl’s victory kept him alive in the Masters, where he has reached the final in each of its 8 years and where he is a 5-time champion.

Jakob Hlasek is 2-0 in the round-robin and plays Agassi (1-1) tonight. Lendl (1-1) plays Tim Mayotte (0-2) tonight.

Lendl, Agassi and Hlasek will decide which 2 players among them reach the semifinals, where Boris Becker has already guaranteed himself a spot.

Becker (2-1) beat Henri Leconte, 6-1, 1-0, when Leconte retired, unable to continue after he turned his left ankle. Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg, who are both 1-1, play tonight to decide the second semifinalist in their group.

Hlasek, the surprise of the tournament, would not even be here if Jimmy Connors had been able to play, but Connors underwent foot surgery, allowing Hlasek a place in the 8-player field.

Although he is the only unbeaten player in the field, Hlasek is not assured of a place in the semifinals. If Agassi won, he probably would bump Hlasek, but it isn’t a certainty, because a tiebreaker would be decided on the percentage of sets won.

In something of a confidence twist, Hlasek said he thinks he can be beaten.

“I think so, yes, but it’s great to play the first time here and win two matches in a row,” Hlasek said. “I just want to continue.”

And Mayotte, who hasn’t won a match yet, is continuing, too. If Mayotte beats Lendl, he could advance to the semifinals under the right set of circumstances in a tiebreaker.

Mayotte handicapped the Hlasek-Agassi match: “(Hlasek) is playing well, he’s hot, but I don’t think it will take a super-human effort to beat him.”

Maybe not. Just converting a break point or two.