Agassi and Sampras on Collision Course

If you like to watch tennis at its best, when the top guns play the top guns and a lot is on the line, circle Jan. 27 on your calendar. Send the kids to grandma’s house, turn the phone off and stock the pantry and refrigerator.

That will be Pete Sampras versus Andre Agassi at the Australian Open. And if things continue as they are in the land down under, it may not get any better than that for awhile in tennis.

Certainly, much could happen between now and then to wreck this matchup. Each has four matches left to get to the semifinals, and Sampras called any peeking forward past his next match “like a kiss of death.”

But you can be certain that the powers at ESPN, which has the broadcast rights to this tournament, are lighting candles at the shrine of the television ratings god to pray that this one comes to pass.

Wednesday, Agassi and Sampras won in straight sets; each won convincingly and played impressively--so well that it appears beyond comprehension that either could be beaten, especially before they get to each other next week.

In many ways, even though neither would admit it, it was a routine day at the office for them.

Agassi beat Sjeng Shelken of the Netherlands, 7-6, 6-0, 6-3. It took 1 hour 33 minutes.

Sampras beat Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-1. It took 1 hour 31 minutes.

And each refused to look ahead toward the other.

“If you don’t play well at the right time,” Agassi said, “you can be out before you know it.”

Sampras said, “It’s easy not to look ahead. It’s important not to look ahead. The conditions are such, with the fast courts and the wind and the heat, that you have to be careful about each match. If you aren’t, it is a kiss of death.”

Among the attractions of any Sampras-Agassi matchup is their contrasting styles. And each is taking his respective style to a new extreme here on courts so slick that they actually shine.

Agassi is known for getting to the ball and hitting it earlier and cleaner than anybody in the game, and with it getting to him even sooner and faster than normal here, he is sending it back even faster. Some players are complaining that the ball is getting on them so fast that they don’t even have time to set up to play to the corners or cross-court. Agassi is playing to the corners and cross-court with ease.

Sampras is known for a big serve and a great first volley, and his serve is even bigger and volley even greater on this speed track.

In addition, Sampras has decided that the best way to play the return game on these courts is to chip the return and charge, an approach to hard-court tennis made famous years ago by his coach, Paul Annacone.

“It’s so fast out there,” Sampras said, “that I’ve decided to just come in, every time if I can.”

Right now, the only edge might go to Agassi, and only because, as one reporter put it delicately to him Wednesday, “You have increased your entourage this year by one important person.”

That, of course, would be Steffi Graf, perhaps the best female player ever and currently Agassi’s significant other.

She sits in the press section with Agassi’s coach, Brad Gilbert, and handles the horde of autograph seekers quite nicely. For Agassi’s part, he is more than willing, even proud, to talk publicly about her, as long as the question isn’t sounding like what he terms “tabloid journalism stuff.”

Wednesday, he said of her presence, “I can say that there’s a lot to learn from a champion, and she’s a champion. I definitely do my best to learn from her.”

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Second-seeded Lindsay Davenport got a good match from Santa Monica’s Marissa Irvin before winning out over Stanford’s No. 1 player. Davenport won the first set 6-4, but trailed in the second 5-2, before rallying to a 7-5 victory that was punctuated by a big overhead on match point.

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Todd Martin, the five-set escape artist, played with fire once too often and was ousted Wednesday by Spaniard Fernando Vicente, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Martin, seeded eighth, spent another 2:47 on the court, to go with Monday’s 4 hours, and Vicente, ranked No. 55, rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the fifth set.

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Wayne Black, former USC star, won his way into a third-round match against Agassi by taking out former Olympic gold medalist Marc Rosset of Switzerland, 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3.

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Amelie Mauresmo, the French woman who made the surprising run into the Australian Open final last year, was ousted by Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-4.

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Perhaps the biggest upset of the day, however, occurred when Richard Krajicek, huge server from The Netherlands, whose big game should have put him in good shape on the fast courts, fell to Nicolas Escude of France, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.