Hewitt lurks as Agassi tames Beast
New York night-time becomes Andre Agassi. The 32-year-old seven-times grand slam champion reached his eighth US Open semi-final under the floodlights of the cavernous Arthur Ashe stadium with a 6-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Max Mirnyi who has dual Belarus and US citizenship and glories in the nickname of The Beast. It would be stretching matters to suggest beauty prevailed, although for the home crowd Agassi certainly still represents tennis glamour.
Tomorrow on Super Saturday, when the men's semi-finals act as an appetiser for the women's final, Agassi will face Leyton Hewitt, the world No1, who has beaten him in their last three meetings, and holds an overall 4-2 advantage. But this will be their first encounter in a slam. Agassi had an early opportunity to assess Hewitt's fledgling talent when he played him in Adelaide, Hewitt's home town, in 1998 when the Australian was just 16, and Agassi was struggling to get his ranking back inside the world's top 100. "I remember he was wearing a safety pin in his shorts to hold them up. I'm not kidding," said Agassi. Hewitt won 7-6, 7-6 and went on to win his first ATP career title.
Since then Agassi has chiselled his name in the marble of tennis history by winning the French Open to become only the fifth player ever to win all four slams. Meanwhile, the ragged-trousered youngster has established himself, by some distance, as the best player in the world over the last 12 months.
Agassi was Hewitt's boyhood hero, but the he dismisses the age gap. "Andre is in great shape, and looks as fit as ever to me. I beat him a couple of weeks ago in Cincinnati, but I reckon we can throw the past results against each other out of the window." Both may benefit from their two-day break.
Agassi's wife Steffi Graf and son Jaden have been watching his progress with undivided attention, give or take the odd half hour's nap. The sight of Mirnyi might have been enough to give Jaden nightmares, but Daddy slew the 6ft 5in giant without too much difficulty.
Mirnyi is one of the few genuine serve and volley players left in the modern game, and his attempts to smother the net made for a mini-classic against Agassi, who loves nothing more than the eye of a needle to thread a camel through. "I feel that Andre has much more to bring out in the semi-final but it's a matter of whether he can sustain it. Lleyton makes you hit a lot of balls back, but if I had to make a choice I guess Andre would win," said Mirnyi, who was playing in his first grand slam quarter-final.
Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, who came the closest to defeating Hewitt at Wimbledon this year, reached his first semi-final in a slam event with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 victory over Fernando Gonzalez of Chile last night and now faces the winner of the Andy Roddick versus Pete Sampras quarter-final.
Today is women's semi-finals day with the Williams sisters poised to set up their third successive slam final against each other, Serena having won both at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Serena plays fellow American Lindsay Davenport and holds a 8-2 head-to-head lead, while Venus, the reigning US Open champion, meets France's Amélie Mauresmo, over whom she has a 4-0 advantage. Another all-Williams show on Saturday evening (around 2am on Sunday UK time) appears inevitable.