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Agassi wins at Australian Open
2000-01-21
MELBOURNE, Australia - The third round at the Australian Open almost proved to be Pete Sampras' downfall for the second time in five years. Four years after the then top-ranked Sampras was stunned by Australia's Mark Philippoussis at Melbourne, qualifier Wayne Black of Zimbabwe pushed the third-seeded American to the limit before Sampras gutted out a 6-7 (9-11), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 victory Friday (tonight in the United States). Top seed Andre Agassi of the United States had little trouble defeating Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, in 93 minutes. Agassi, who has not dropped a set in the tournament, served up eight aces and forced Zabaleta to commit 35 unforced errors. The 1995 champion, Agassi won last year's French and U.S. Opens and was runner-up at Wimbledon, where he lost to Sampras. He finished last season as the year-end No. 1 for the first time in his career. Philippoussis, the 16th seed, did his part in setting up a fourth-round showdown with Agassi by powering past unpredictable countryman Andrew Ilie, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. "I never like to play a match like that this early in the tournament because we're certainly both playing well," Agassi said. "I'm looking forward to the match. I certainly feel like I played well tonight and I expect I'm going to have to do some special things on (Saturday night)." For the women, second seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States needed only 45 minutes to dispose of Russian qualifier Alina Jidkova, 6-0, 6-1, and next will meet No. 11 Anna Kournikova of Russia in a fourth-round clash. Kournikova, who looked dominant in her first two matches, was pushed to the limit by Kvetoslava Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic before pulling out a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. In a sloppy match that featured 12 service breaks and a combined 83 unforced errors, Kournikova survived and advanced to the fourth round for the second straight year. In a thrilling prelude to a possible matchup in next month's Davis Cup first round, Sampras broke Black to take a 4-3 lead in the final set and closed it with another break as he avoided becoming the 10th men's seed to get knocked out of the tournament. "It's safe to say I was struggling to find my range, not only in the first couple of sets, but throughout the whole match," Sampras said. "I didn't feel I was hitting the ball that well. But it was more of a mental effort than anything." Sampras fired 36 aces to overcome an uncharacteristic 54 unforced errors and 10 double faults as he improved to a remarkable 28-10 lifetime in five-set matches, including a perfect 8-0 in Melbourne. Sampras committed 32 unforced errors over the first two sets and Black made only eight as he took a seemingly commanding lead. "Being down two sets, it's kind of a tough uphill battle," Sampras said. "I just kind of hung in there and my serve kind of saved me and I got going a little bit." But like so many times before, Sampras would not give up without a fight. He broke Black for the first time in the eighth game of the third set and served out the set. "When I won the third, I got a little bit of momentum on my side and went to the fourth and fifth and just kind of hung in there," Sampras said. The two held serve in the fourth set until the 11th game, when Black lost his. Sampras forced the decisive set with consecutive aces. This was the fifth time in his career Sampras has come back from a two-set deficit to win a match and ironically, all have taken place in Grand Slam tournaments. Two of those victories came at the 1995 Australian Open, where he defeated Magnus Larsson in the fourth round and Jim Courier in the quarterfinals. Before today's win, Sampras most recent comeback from two sets down came against Courier in the 1996 French Open quarterfinals. Sampras is trying to break the record he shares with Australia's Roy Emerson for most Grand Slam titles. Both men have 12. Sampras' fourth-round opponent is Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic, who downed Franco Squillari of Argentina, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. Dosedel reached the quarterfinals at last year's U.S. Open. No. 11 Tim Henman of Britain, who could face Sampras in the quarterfinals, advanced to the fourth round at Melbourne for the first time by defeating up-and-coming Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6). Henman battles American Chris Woodruff for a quarterfinal berth. Woodruff reached the fourth round in a Grand Slam for the first time by dumping Australia's Richard Fromberg, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6). For the women, American Jennifer Capriati continued her inspired comeback as she dispatched wild card Jing-Qian Yi of China, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the fourth round at Melbourne for the first time since consecutive quarterfinal appearances in 1992-93. Capriati, who battled drug and legal problems in the mid-1990s, faces someone who went through some personal problems of her own last season in Switzerland's Patty Schnyder. Schnyder, who knocked off 1999 runner-up Amelie Mauresmo in the second round, struggled past Nadejda Petrova of Russia, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-2. After winning five events in 1998, Schnyder claimed only one title last season as she broke off with her coach, family and boyfriend to take up with a German faith healer. Fourth seed Mary Pierce of France and ninth-seeded countrywoman Julie Halard-Decugis also advanced to the round of 16. Pierce, the 1995 champion and 1997 runner-up, dumped Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-4, in 67 minutes. Halard-Decugis advanced to the fourth round here for the first time since 1993 by rallying past Elena Dementieva of Russia, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Agassi wanting heat and wind; Kandarr's lucky run (2000-01-22)Sampras struggles but Agassi still wary (2000-01-21)Agassi wins at Australian Open (2000-01-21)9 (11285)
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