MELBOURNE, Australia -- Andre Agassi says he hopes the Melbourne Park stadium's retractable roof will stay open during his fourth-round match Sunday against big-serving Aussie Mark Philippoussis.

"When there's no elements whatsoever, the guy's one of the biggest and cleanest hitters of the ball out there," Agassi said after a straight-sets victory over Argentine Mariano Zabaleta.

Light rain forced the closure of the center court roof during Philippoussis' third-round victory over Andrew Ilie. The 16th-seeded Philippoussis overpowered Ilie with a flood of aces and service winners.

"That's a tough scenario to play him," Agassi said. "He can still, you know, muscle through the court and if the ball is not moving around and he's getting a good whack at it, it's a lot of problems. So, yeah, I'd like it to be about 42 degrees (Celsius, or about 108 Fahrenheit) and extremely windy.

Kandarr finds way into fourth round
German qualifier Jana Kandarr has had a series of close calls in the Australian Open en route to a fourth-round match against ninth-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis of France.

In six matches, including three in qualifying, Kandarr has saved nine match points, eight in the second round of qualifying against Japan's Yuka Yoshida.

Kandarr's three matches in the main draw have gone three sets, including the first round when she saved a match point against Australian wild-card qualifier Melissa Dowse before winning 6-4, 6-7 (5), 8-6.

Kandarr on Friday defeated another qualifier, Sonya Jeyaseelan of Canada, 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 in a scrappy match marred by errors and rain breaks.

The German describes herself as "chaotic" at the best of times and says she's advancing in the tournament because she's comfortable in the Australian conditions.

Chinese viewers tune in for Yi
Chinese wild-card qualifier Yi Jianqian says she matched or bettered Jennifer Capriati from the baseline, although the American's 6-4, 6-4 victory will stand in the results and probably go overlooked by the bulk of the tennis world.

But not in China. Yi's third-round match against the former teen-age prodigy was broadcast live on Chinese television. By reaching the third round, Yi equaled the best result ever by a Chinese player in a Grand Slam.

Her coach, Jeff King, who splits time among the tour, China and Chicago, said Yi's performances will ignite a flood of interest in tennis.

"The Chinese are historically extremely good at racket sports -- take table tennis for example. If they can give more commitment to tennis, then China is going to be a real force," he said. "I'm not the first person to say that.

"It's not going to happen overnight, but with the programs (the Chinese tennis federation) is putting in place, and with more results like this, the next generation of players will be very competitive on an international level."