Agassi Shows That He’s Back at Playing Weight

Andre Agassi neutralized Patrick Rafter’s serve-and-volley game with soft lobs and slashing shots down the line Thursday, avenging a 1997 U.S. Open loss with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory.

Agassi, extending his winning streak to 13 matches, faltered with a string of unforced errors in the second set. He regained his rhythm quickly and came back to break Rafter on his first two services in the third set and go up 4-0.

Rafter beat Agassi in four sets in the quarterfinals on his way to the U.S. Open title last September.

Agassi, asked earlier this week what he learned from his loss to Rafter at Flushing Meadows, grinned and said, “That I needed to lose 15 pounds.”

Looking leaner and playing like he did when he was ranked No. 1 in late 1995, Agassi covered the court well and was deadly accurate with a mixed bag of shots, particularly with his lobs that left Rafter frozen helplessly near the net.

The win over Rafter put Agassi into the quarterfinals of the Newsweek Champions Cup against Jan-Michael Gambill, who eliminated Jim Courier 6-2, 6-4. Neither Agassi nor Gambill, a wild-card entry into the tournament, is seeded.

Pete Sampras, No. 1 in the world, is in the other side of the bracket, so an Agassi-Sampras final is possible. One of Agassi’s two titles this year came when he beat Sampras in the final at San Jose.

Other third-round winners were Petr Korda, the Australian Open champion and No. 2 seed in the Champions Cup, who beat Tommy Haas 7-6 (8-6). 6-2; Marcelo Rios, who downed Nicolas Kiefer 6-4, 6-3; and Greg Rusedski, who beat Carlos Moya 6-3, 7-5.

Agassi said he feels he is playing “at least a couple of hundred percent” better than he was when he lost to Rafter last year.

“Really, you’re just seeing me getting better as I start getting more matches,” he said.

“When you’re used to a certain level of play, used to winning, and then you start losing, you respond to that by not working as hard as you could. It kind of snowballs,” he said. “You get to a point where it seems like you’re getting worse every time you play, and that kills your desire.

Asked to sum up in three words how he’s playing now, he thought for a moment and said, “Very, very good.”

Said Rafter: “He’s definitely playing a lot better. He had trouble with my second serve at the U.S. Open, and not so much here. I thought I played 10 or 15 percent better at the U.S. Open.”

Agassi’s comeback is heightening interest again in the men’s game, which has lacked the excitement of Agassi-Sampras as Agassi slumped the past two years. The Stadium court at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort was packed, a crowd of about 11,500, to watch Agassi face Rafter.

The previous evening, the stands were less than half-full when the top-ranked women’s player, Martina Hingis, beat Conchita Martinez in the State Farm Evert Cup quarterfinals.