Agassi on Top of Game Down Under, as Usual

Another afternoon with Andre in the Park.

It’s becoming almost a January institution in Australia. Andre Agassi puts on a thoroughly entertaining display of tennis and then trades quips with the ubiquitous John McEnroe during his on-court television interview in Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park.

It happened all over again today.

Agassi saved five set points in the opening set and then his relentless groundstroke attack put No. 13 Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand into a world of hurt as the fourth-seeded American won, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4, in 2 hours 6 minutes in the fourth round at the Australian Open.

The hurt was literal, actually.

Srichaphan called for the trainer during a changeover early in the third set and received treatment for a sprained right ankle. He’d broken Agassi’s serve once in the first set and never even had another break point opportunity in the final two sets. The players had a nice moment at the net, chatting, and Agassi said later that he had been concerned about his opponent’s health, having heard him cry out during one exchange.

Agassi, the defending champion, has won 25 straight matches at the Australian Open and the last time he lost a set here was last year when Nicolas Escude of France managed to push him to four sets in the fourth round. The last time Agassi lost here was in 1999 when Vince Spadea beat him in the fourth round in four sets.

McEnroe paid tribute to Agassi’s excellence in Australia, and the four-time champion smiled, saying: “January is a nice time.”

Then McEnroe asked how one of Agassi’s kids might fare against the future offspring of Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters. Hewitt and Clijsters recently became engaged but have not set a wedding date.

Agassi, who’s married to Steffi Graf, grinned.

“Well, if my son or daughter were to lose that match, 20 years from now, I’d be waiting for them in the final or the next round. I’ll still be here playing,” he said.

The mood was more tense in the first set when Agassi faced the five set points. He erased three of them in the 10th game, serving at 4-5, 0-40, and two more at 5-6.

“I had to fight off a few there,” said Agassi, who had lost to Srichaphan in their only previous meeting, in the second round at Wimbledon in 2002. “The set was in the balance the whole way. I felt like I could have blown the first set open a lot earlier, having some chances. And then when I didn’t put that away, he hung in there tough, and I had to come up with some pretty good tennis late in the set to pull it out.”

The victory by Agassi was one high point on a somewhat difficult day for American men in the fourth round. Another was top-seeded Andy Roddick’s 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands.

But Robby Ginepri, seeded 32nd, lost his match against No. 9 Sebastien Grosjean of France, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, and also lost his cool. After missing a volley on break point to fall behind, 2-0, in the fourth set, Ginepri knocked a ball into the air at Margaret Court Arena andreceived an admonition from the chair umpire.

He wasn’t the only frustrated American on the grounds.

James Blake, who lost to Marat Safin, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3, became unnerved after a decisive line call went against him in the first-set tiebreak, giving Safin the tiebreak, 7-3, and the set. Blake felt his forehand passing shot should not have been called out and argued with the umpire, saying: “It was right on the line.”