Crowd Backs Connors All the Way : But Younger Agassi Holds On for Five-Set Victory in U.S. Open

Youth was served at the U.S. Open. So was age.

Andre Agassi, overcoming every sort of obstacle and the stigma of failure in the clutch, won a five-set match for the first time Thursday, rallying to eliminate Jimmy Connors at the U.S. Open.

The 19-year-old Agassi repeated his 1988 quarterfinal victory over the 37-year-old Connors, but in entirely different style. Last year, he swept three sets from the five-time Open champion. This time, Agassi had to show the determination and staying power he has not displayed in his four years on tour.

With the 20,839 fans firmly against him, even applauding his double faults, Agassi won 6-1, 4-6, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“I don’t know what I proved,” Agassi said. “Losing in five sets was a thing that everyone wanted to dwell on. It was a great achievement out there under those circumstances to pull out the win. I don’t care if it was three sets, five sets, two sets or 20 sets.”

Had it gone all night, the match couldn’t have been tighter. Every time one player seemed in control, the other responded.

“I played on automatic pilot and guts and to play the way I did, that’s good,” Connors said.

“He didn’t run out of steam,” Agassi said of Connors. “We both battled it out to the last point.”

Agassi had Connors under control at the start and the veteran complained of nausea and dizziness early in the second set. At one point, Connors turned to his wife, Patti, seated at courtside, and said “I don’t think I can make it.”

Connors admitted: “I wasn’t feeling at my best. I was wearing myself out just trying to stay in there.”

But then Connors came alive. No longer was he shuffling slowly around the court between points, looking like a misfit against the energetic Agassi.

Seeded just 13th after 15 years among the favorites here, Connors gave further indication that at an age when most tennis players are coaching their kids, Connors can compete with youngsters nearly half his age.

And it offered proof that Connors’ 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 rout of No. 3 Stefan Edberg in the fourth round was no fluke.

“He gave a tremendous effort,” Agassi said. “He deserves a lot of respect for that.

“I hope if I’m 37 and still playing tennis, that all the people who I’ve pleased stand by me like they’re standing by him.”

The standing ovations didn’t end even when Agassi -- showing more stamina -- broke Connors in the fourth game of the fourth set, turning the match around.

By the final set, Connors was being overpowered by the sixth seed, 0-5 in previous five-setters. Agassi took a 5-2 lead in the set, but was broken by Connors, who then held to make it 5-4.

“It’s not like I gave it to him” Agassi said. “When he came back to 5-4, he raised his game, like, six levels.”

With the fans standing and shouting encouragement and Connors pumping his arms, Agassi blew one match point before Connors’ backhand off a drop shot went long.

That was the end of 3 hours, 17 minutes of center court drama, and perhaps the end of Connors’ Open career. He waved to the crowd once more as he left the stadium to yet another standing ovation.

“When I got down and tried to drain what was left out of me, it was too far to go,” Connors said. “I let it go one game too late. He was gagging.”

But Agassi didn’t choke.

“For two days, all I’ve thought about was this match,” Agassi said. “When I was watching Garrison play Evert, I said to myself, ‘Prepare yourself, Andre, you’re in for it.

“I also felt that when I watched Jimmy play Edberg. It was so draining getting up for this match, I won’t ever forget it.”

For Agassi, it could have been an embarrasing finish to a tournament that began so strongly. Considered the leader of the wave of rising stars in American tennis, Agassi hadn’t lost a set in this tournament before facing Connors.

By the beginning of the fourth set Thursday, Agassi had lost his touch, his concentration and, it appeared at times, his interest.

The third set was so lopsided that Agassi even was attempting lobs from the baseline that Connors continually put away with ease from midcourt.

“He started missing and shortening the points for me,” Connors said. “I started playing more aggressively because I didn’t want to hit 10 or 12 shots.”

But Connors was on borrowed time and, once Agassi got the break in the fourth set, tennis became a young man’s game again.