Agassi Makes Five Sets Look Like a Waltz

There are going to be a few annoying moments in the course of a Grand Slam tournament, and they were accumulating in rapid fashion for an already edgy Andre Agassi.

They were, in no particular order:

* Housekeeping. Agassi likes his court orderly. The ball kids have to be just right and if they aren’t, he will make sure they are in the correct position. He’s a lot like a director, and Monday the extras were off their game.

* Fan decorum. Early in the second set against Franco Squillari of Argentina, there was a serious lapse in the French facade of coolness. Squillari was serving at deuce and a fan from the upper deck started squealing. Agassi misfired, hitting a backhand wide, and shouted: “Come on! Shut up!”

* The opposition. Squillari, a left-hander, has given Agassi trouble at the French Open in the past. Two years ago, Agassi needed four difficult sets to put away Squillari in the first round. Monday, the first game took 12 minutes and Squillari saved seven break points. Agassi would not break his serve until his 11th break-point opportunity, in the fifth game.

But the series of annoyances only appeared to threaten Agassi once or twice--after he lost the first and fourth sets. He broke Squillari immediately in the fifth and was untroubled after that, prevailing, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 1-6, 6-0, in the fourth round in 2 hours 59 minutes. The No. 3-seeded Agassi plays No. 10 Sebastien Grosjean of France in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Grosjean is the only French player remaining in the singles draw.

Agassi, 31, is at the stage where a long opening game and a tough first set do not always indicate a bad start.

“The first set was an hour and it was a 6-4 set,” he said. “I liked the tempo of it after the first game. I went out there thinking it was going to be physical. But you don’t want any quick sets early, unless you’re winning. I just didn’t want anything strange to happen. If I could make it physical, if I could get my teeth into the match, I felt I would get more opportunities.”

Said Squillari: “[Agassi] always feels he is going to win, and that’s the impression he gives, that he is never going to crumble.”

In other fourth-round matches, Grosjean beat Galo Blanco of Spain, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1, Roger Federer of Switzerland defeated Wayne Arthurs of Australia, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, and 1998 runner-up Alex Corretja of Spain beat Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

Corretja went five sets in the first round and hasn’t dropped a set since. He is 8-1 against Santoro, who had his right thigh wrapped. Corretja, seeded No. 13, plays Federer in the quarterfinals and joked that he was so focused, he was losing track of the days.

“Yesterday I thought it was Thursday, so I thought today should be Friday. I don’t know what day it is,” he said.

Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, seeded No. 6, needed only three games to complete his five-set victory over Guillermo Canas of Argentina. The match started Sunday and was halted because of darkness.

It was the first time Hewitt had rallied from a two-set deficit, defeating Canas, 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. He was fined $1,000, though. Hewitt was heard calling the chair umpire “a spastic” Sunday and received a code violation for verbal abuse. “I didn’t call him [a spastic],” Hewitt said. “I can’t recall calling him one.”

Hewitt, who will play No. 4 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain today in the quarterfinals, felt fortunate to survive the two-day match.

“It’s hard,” Hewitt said. “We had such a dogfight out there yesterday for nearly four hours. To come out, it’s like a 100-meter sprint to finish the match and see who is going to come out of the box quicker today.”

Speaking of running, Agassi came off the court after the match against Squillari and was told by French television commentators that he had run 3,643 meters. Meanwhile, the Argentine had gone 5,000.

Of course, Agassi could have pointed out the obvious, that the statisticians have too much time on their hands. But he did take issue with it, sort of, saying he felt as if it were more like 3.7 miles, not kilometers. “It’s not running, it’s sprinting,” he said. “It’s usually a good sign for me . . . I feel like I’m dancing out there.”

Agassi, the original showman, was asked about Gustavo Kuerten’s artistry on the court after his five-set victory against qualifier Michael Russell. Kuerten, paying tribute to the crowd, drew a heart on Center Court.

“I almost wish I had thought of that because it was a beautiful gesture,” Agassi said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

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