AUSTRALIAN OPEN NOTES : Krickstein Joins the All-U.S. Singles Party Down Under

For the first time since 1979, at the aptly titled U.S. Open, four American men reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam event. Aaron Krickstein completed the quartet with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory Wednesday night over Jacco Eltingh of the Netherlands.

Krickstein, joining Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang, is the only unseeded player left.

Krickstein served well with 19 aces.

Krickstein plays Agassi in the semifinals Friday, and he knows the game will be much different.

“It’s going to be a totally different match, it’s going to be in the heat and baseline,” he said. “He is hitting the ball extremely well from the ground, better than anyone else in the world at the present time.

“But I feel like I’m hitting the ball pretty well too, and I think I’m going to have to serve even better than I did tonight. Again, Andre likes a target, likes guys to come in, which I don’t do, which is to my advantage. But I’m going to have to play one of my best matches to beat him.”

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Ranking moves: Angelica Gavaldon of Mexico will move up significantly in the rankings. Gavaldon, who lives in Coronado, will move from No. 96 to somewhere in the mid 50s.

Mary Pierce, ranked No. 5, has a chance to unseat No. 4 Jana Novotna, depending on the outcome of the women’s final.

Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, if she defeats Pierce on Saturday, will take over No. 1 from Steffi Graf, who has a leg injury.

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In third-round play in boys’ singles, Kevin Kim, a former Sunny Hills High School student, lost to Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer, 6-1,6-0. In second-round doubles play, Kim and partner Michael Russell of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., defeated India’s Vikrant Chadha and Aditya Chippy Mehta, 6-1, 7-5.