It’s a Different Agassi When It’s the Davis Cup

If Andre Agassi wasn’t back on his game Friday after that first-round loss at the French Open and a second-round loss at Wimbledon, don’t tell Belgium’s Christophe Van Garsse.

“I have no idea, but I hope so,” Van Garsse said after Agassi flattened him, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, and the heavily favored U.S. team took a 2-0 lead over Belgium in a best-of-five Davis Cup quarterfinal at the Indianapolis Tennis Center.

Jim Courier had to work a little harder to beat Filip Dewulf, who seemed oddly disinterested at times during a 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), 2-6, 6-3 loss in the opening match.

The U.S. could clinch today, when Todd Martin and Richey Reneberg are scheduled to play a still-to-be-determined Belgian doubles team.

Agassi’s latest comeback suffered a setback in Europe after he reached four tournament finals earlier this season, winning two of them. A shoulder injury in the French Open limited his preparation for Wimbledon, and Agassi is trying to dismiss his showing as stretch of bad luck.

“I mean, when I saw him playing in the French Open, I thought, ‘OK, maybe I can do something today,’ ” said Van Garsse, who is ranked 159th in the world--140 spots below Agassi.

“When I saw him playing his last matches, I really thought--maybe I didn’t think I could win, but I was sure I was going to do something. Yeah, he was all over me. I hope he played really well today.”

Agassi lost only one point in the first three games and broke Van Garsse’s serve eight times in the match while committing only 16 unforced errors. And though the match was a lark, Agassi never allowed it to look like one, remaining intent throughout.

Even with 4,116 fans on hand who might need conversion to the Davis Cup, the show was never Agassi or any antics, it was all game.

“Me, I was very focused on what I had to do today,” Agassi said. “That’s the way I’m going to need to be the whole summer and the rest of the year.

“I mean, you know, I probably had a little bit more in me, if I was faced with it. I felt like I was having to just stay on top of him, stay controlled, stay inside myself. But sometimes that’s a tough thing to do. So that’s playing well.”

With the victory, Agassi passed Bill Tilden for third in U.S. Davis Cup history, with 26 singles victories, one behind Arthur Ashe. John McEnroe is first with 41.

Van Garsse was giddy even in defeat. The hero of Belgium’s last two Davis Cup matches on clay, he was no match for Agassi, especially on the hard court. U.S. captain Tom Gullikson praised Agassi’s return of serve and cagey use of his serve to set up points, but Van Garsse needed no convincing.

“I was so impressed,” he said. “I’ve seen him playing on television many times, but I couldn’t imagine that somebody could play so fast on the ball and put so much pressure on me.

“He’s not a hundred times stronger than me, not a thousand times, but a million times too strong for me. My coach says no, but I don’t care.”

In contrast to Agassi, Courier does not seem as if the problems that led to his first-round exits at the French Open and Wimbledon are behind him.

After winning the first set, Courier came dangerously close to losing the second on his serve. With Dewulf leading, 5-4, Courier hit two shots wide to give Dewulf a break point for the set. But Courier came up with a big serve to get back to deuce and Dewulf sent a forehand into the net, allowing Courier to avert disaster.

Courier eventually won the set on a tiebreaker when Dewulf--who had 54 unforced errors--badly mis-hit several shots and won only one point.

Dewulf--ranked 43rd, five spots above Courier--recovered to win the third, but Courier took care of things in the fourth.

Martin and Reneberg can take care of Belgium today.

Although Belgian captain Koen Gonnisen previously announced Dewulf and Davis Cup rookie Xavier Malisse as the doubles team that would face the United States, he can make changes up to an hour before today’s match, and it seems likely he will.

Dewulf suggested Friday he won’t play, and Malisse, who turns 18 Sunday, is short on experience. The second-best player on the team, Johan Van Herck, is still affected by a hamstring injury suffered at Wimbledon.

An American victory would set up a semifinal in September, probably in the United States against Italy, which took a 2-0 lead over Zimbabwe on Friday.

The American team isn’t the strongest the U.S. could field--not with Pete Sampras and Michael Chang declining to play--but Gullikson is more and more hinting that the team that plays together stays together, and it could be this exact group that would play in the semifinals.

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In other Davis Cup quarterfinals, Germany and Sweden split their opening singles, while Spain leads Switzerland, 2-0.