All England Is Awaiting Rafter’s Next Opponent

One thing certain about the Wimbledon men’s final is that there won’t be an American in it for the first time in 10 years.

Andre Agassi, seeded second, lost Friday, falling in the semifinals for the second consecutive year to Australia’s Pat Rafter.

Left hanging as night fell was whether an Englishman will be in the final for the first time in 63 years.

A crowd of more than 14,000 at Center Court, an additional 6,000 or so inside the All England Club camped in front of a giant-screen television and an estimated 12 million television viewers throughout England watched anxiously as sixth-seeded Tim Henman built a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-0, 2-1 lead over Croatia’s Goran Ivanisevic.

Then rain began to fall and didn’t stop until it was too dark to resume play, forcing Henman and his growing legion of fans to wait until today, weather permitting, to see whether he can become the first Englishman since Bunny Austin in 1938 to advance to the final. In the land of Alfred Hitchcock, they should be able to appreciate a few more hours of suspense.

There was plenty of it earlier Friday on Center Court as Agassi and No. 3 Rafter met in the semifinals for the third consecutive year. Agassi won in 1999.

This match also could have gone his way and almost did. He led, 5-3, in the fifth set and was two points from winning the match while serving at 5-4, but Rafter rallied to win, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 8-6. There is no fifth-set tiebreaker at Wimbledon.

Afterward, Rafter, who at 28 has been contemplating retirement, appeared more stunned than Agassi.

“Disbelief,” he said when asked for his reaction. “I guess, very lucky.”

He was too modest. It’s more likely that he finally wore Agassi down with an aggressive serve-and-volley attack, as opposed to the American’s more patient and defensive baseline game.

“The attacking player will almost always win on a grass court against someone who plays at the back,” said Pat Cash, the most recent Australian to win Wimbledon with his 1987 title. Rafter lost in his only final here, last year against Pete Sampras.

But Rafter’s game almost didn’t kick in until it was too late. The 31-year-old Agassi, who won Wimbledon in 1992 but has advanced to the final only once since, no doubt is going to be replaying this match in his mind for a long time.

His immediate reaction: “Right now, nothing comes to mind except kicking myself.”

Agassi was extremely frustrated at times during the match as well, protesting two line calls that went against him in the fourth set, one that he felt may have deprived him of the set, and was assessed a code violation at a critical point in the fifth set for muttering an obscenity.

The first three sets passed without incident. But, serving at 2-3 and 30-30 in the fourth, Agassi was upset when a forehand by Rafter sliced close to the line but was not called out.

“It was clearly wide,” Agassi said later, although replays were inconclusive.

Upset, Agassi committed a forehand error on the next point, lost the game and then the set.

But he composed himself before the fifth set, broke Rafter’s serve in the first game and appeared in control. He had break points in two of Rafter’s next three serves, although he couldn’t convert.

Still, he was serving for the match at 5-4. He went up 30-15, two points from winning the match, and then . . . Agassi to agony. He hit a forehand into the net, a backhand wide and then couldn’t reach Rafter’s cross-court volley.

“He was definitely a better player in the fifth set,” Rafter said. “I just had that one chance. Maybe one in 100, one in 200 matches you play, something like that happens and it turns around for you. You just have to hang in there.”

Agassi had another break point that he couldn’t convert in the 13th game and believed he should have had still another, but his return of Rafter’s serve was called out. That inspired the obscenity, which inspired the violation.

Agassi was furious at the lineswoman who reported him to the umpire, later calling her “classless.”

But he didn’t exactly cover himself in class with his reaction. After Rafter served out that game on the next point to lead, 7-6, Agassi lost the first three points of his serve and suddenly was down three match points. He saved two, then watched helplessly as a backhand passing shot looped over his head and fell in for a winner.

“It was floating high, not very pretty,” Rafter said. “I said, ‘Just get in the court, please.’ ”

It did, thank you. On his way to the net to congratulate Rafter, Agassi ripped a forehand that went in the direction of the lineswoman who had angered him.

Asked if he had purposely hit the ball at her, he said, “No, no. I meant to hit that into the net.”

If that match hadn’t gone so long, 2 hours 59 minutes, then perhaps Henman and Ivanisevic could have finished. But that’s not a new experience for Henman. No. 1 Sampras’ five-set loss to Roger Federer in the fourth round lasted closer to four hours, preventing Henman from finishing his match against Todd Martin before nightfall.

In that case, the suspension worked in Henman’s favor. He was trailing in sets, 2-1, when he retired for the night. When he returned the next afternoon, momentum quickly shifted his way. He won the last two sets easily.

This time, he is leading, 2-1, and seems to have Ivanisevic on his heels. But you never know with the split personality from Split, Croatia, a three-time finalist who needed a special invitation to enter here because his ranking has fallen to 125th.

Ivanisevic, 29, played brilliantly here, until the second set tiebreaker Friday when his usually potent serve was broken three times. He not only didn’t win any of his service games in the third set, he didn’t win a point off Henman’s serve. The set lasted only 14 1/2 minutes.

They were on serve in the fourth set, with Ivanisevic leading, 40-30, in the fourth game when play was halted. Who knows which Ivanisevic will show up today to face all those Brits?

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Today’s Schedule

Play begins at 5 a.m. PDT

* Men’s singles semifinal: Tim Henman (6), Britain, vs. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, completion of Friday’s suspended match

* Women’s singles championship: Venus Williams (2), United States, vs. Justine Henin (8), Belgium

* Men’s doubles championship: Jiri Novak and David Rikl (3), Czech Republic, vs. Donald Johnson and Jared Palmer (4), United States