Agassi Gets Chile Reception in Second Round

By LISA DILLMAN

Aug. 31, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK — This U.S. Open tournament has been so devoid of drama, the new seeding system having eliminated the usual first-week electricity of a Grand Slam, that it turned into something of a scare when two favorites were pushed into playing four sets.

It may sound odd, but a match featuring four tiebreakers between defending champion Marat Safin of Russia and Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia on Thursday was not nearly as interesting as Andre Agassi’s four-set victory against a Chilean baseliner.

Maybe because the baseliner was not Marcelo Rios.

The second-best player in Chile, Nicolas Massu, came close to taking a two-set lead against Agassi. He scrambled, fought and retrieved but came away with just one set, as Agassi won the second-round match, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (1), in 3 hours 20 minutes.

Massu, who once idolized Agassi, had a break point to take a 5-4 lead in the second set but missed a forehand long.

“My experience tells me that was a great one to sneak through,” said Agassi, who needed five match points to win it. “It was one of those days. He was moving well, wasn’t giving an inch from the beginning and neither was I. By the time we got to the end of the fourth set, we both knew it was a big moment there.”

Massu lost his poise after the second set when he double-faulted to drop it.

“I think when I go to the locker room, I was mad because if I make that, I have 5-4, serving for the second set,” he said. “If I won that serve I was two sets up, maybe the match changes. After that, when I lost the second set, my mental--what do you say?--I start fighting with me, ‘Why this ball don’t get in? Why this out?’ When he won the second set, he said, ‘Come on.’ He was very tired in the second set. When he won the second set, he feels more confidence after that.”

Safin needed seven more minutes to defeat Ljubicic, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), in another second-round match. Ljubicic had 21 aces to 16 for Safin. But they combined for 103 unforced errors in an often desultory encounter. The crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium seemed lulled into boredom, occasionally stirring when Safin smacked his racket or tried to kick the ball into the stands.

The theme of the day was The Tiebreaker.

On the main show court, there were seven tiebreakers, all coming in men’s matches. Four-time champion Pete Sampras, who is seeded 10th, added one more in the final night contest, beating Andre Sa of Brazil, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3, in 1 hour 55 minutes, surviving an early service break in the opening set. After that, he was relaxed until a cameraman started chatting too loudly at the end.

“I was like, chill out dude, I’ve got my hands full here,” Sampras said.

Nestled among all the tiebreakers at Ashe Stadium were two quick women’s matches. Second-seeded Jennifer Capriati beat Evie Dominikovic of Australia, 6-2, 6-0, in 51 minutes, losing only one point on her own serve in the second set. Defending champion and No. 4 Venus Williams defeated Meilen Tu, 6-2, 6-2, in 62 minutes, serving 10 aces.

The biggest fireworks of the day did not come from Safin, but the feisty Greg Rusedski, who received a point penalty for hitting the ball at a linesman in the fourth set.

Rusedski, of Britain, has been quite vocal this summer, criticizing line calls and showing more emotion. Despite the outburst, Rusedski beat Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (6).

“I felt it was a little unjust,” he said of the second code violation. “Fair enough, I hit the guy. No intention of doing that. He was out of his position when he moved. And it was on the bounce. If I hit him on the fly, I’d say, ‘Give me the point penalty, I’m guilty as charged, please. I deserve it.’ ”

Bjorkman was bothered by the Court 11 crowd and Rusedski went on an amusing riff about the spectators, or as they call them in Britain, the supporters.

“That’s the New York crowd,” he said. “I mean, what the New York crowd says to you sometimes, you just can’t believe. I had one guy screaming at me, ‘You know, you’re supposed to hit your serve hard. What are you doing?’

“I got some other guy screaming at me in the corner, going, ‘Why isn’t it done? I’ve had some of the weirdest sort of expressions. You just got to deal with them because that’s New York. It’s not like Wimbledon. It’s not like the French Open. It’s not your regular tennis fan you’re getting out there, which is quite fun, but you get some amusing comments.”

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AT A GLANCE

Highlights of Thursday’s play at the $15.76-million U.S. Open tennis championships:

* ATTENDANCE--Day session: 31,414. Night session: 23,033. Total: 54,447.

* RESULTS--Men: No. 2 Andre Agassi, No. 3 Marat Safin, No. 9 Tim Henman and No. 13 Roger Federer won second-round matches. No. 20 Jan-Michael Gambill was forced to retire against Mikhail Youzhny with a right shoulder injury. Women: No. 2 Jennifer Capriati, No. 5 Kim Clijsters, No. 8 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 9 Nathalie Tauziat, No. 11 Elena Dementieva and No. 17 Anke Huber advanced to the third round. Seeded losers were No. 15 Magdalena Maleeva and No. 22 Iroda Tulyaganova.

* FEATURED MATCHES-- Day session-- Martina Hingis, Switzerland, vs. Iva Majoli, Croatia;Justin Gimelstob vs. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia; Serena Williams vs. Martina Sucha, Slovakia.

Night session --Lindsay Davenport vs. Angeles Montolio, Spain; Jack Brasington vs. Andy Roddick.

* STAT OF THE DAY--Of the 322 points in the Marat Safin-Ivan Ljubicic match, only seven (six for Safin, one for Ljubicic) were break points. Of those seven, two were converted, one by each player.

* QUOTE OF THE DAY--”I’m doing better. I didn’t break any rackets today.”--Marat Safin, on controlling his temper.