| | Results
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Americans dominated the Australian
Open on Sunday.
Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and a surprising Chris Woodruff
reached the men's quarterfinals.
|  | | Pete Sampras eyes the ball on Sunday. |
Agassi's cunning and consistency overwhelmed Mark Philippoussis'
brute power so thoroughly that the frustrated Australian smashed
his racket into the shape of a gnarled zucchini.
In long rallies that perfectly suited his style, the top-seeded
Agassi repeatedly painted Philippoussis into a corner then put him
away to craft a 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-3 victory and reach the
quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
Sampras cruised through the first two sets, then overcame a
complacent third set to beat Slava Dosedel 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 and
set up a quarterfinal match against Woodruff, who upset No. 11 Tim
Henman 7-5, 1-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Woodruff, a 27-year-old former NCAA champion who had never gone beyond the third round in a major, ended 1999 ranked No. 51, a leap
from No. 1,342 the previous year. It was the biggest jump on the
ATP Tour rankings last year. In 1998, he played only one tournament
after sustaining a left knee injury in December 1997 while kicking
field goals with Richey Reneberg. At the time of the injury,
Woodruff was ranked No. 30.
Agassi patiently absorbed Philippoussis' 25 aces and waited for
chances to attack. Agassi broke Philippoussis' serve only once in
the first set, and that was enough. In the second set, neither
player yielded on serve, producing a tie-breaker of high drama.
After losing his opening service, Philippoussis swept the next
four points, the last with his 18th ace, to put himself in position
to tie the match. But Agassi calmly kept up the pressure from the
baseline and won the next six points to take the set and spark a
moment of rage from Philippoussis.
The 6-foot-4 Australian bellowed in disgust and smacked his
racket hard against the court, then kicked the misshapen weapon
away.
"I had to let some frustration out or else I'd kill someone.
Better to do it with the racket," Philippoussis said.
Said Agassi: "I'm was just thinking I'm glad I'm not the
racket."
Philippoussis regained his composure enough to win the third set
when he broke Agassi twice, but was helpless as Agassi again drew
him into rally mode in the fourth.
Agassi served just eight aces in the match, but committed only
25 unforced errors to Philippoussis' 55.
Next up for Agassi is Morocco's Hiram Arazi, a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7)
victor over Nicolas Escude. | |
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