With Surprising Ease, Agassi Passes Costa Test

MELBOURNE, Australia —  Conditions at the Australian Open were conveniently altered during Thursday’s second-round match against 16th-seeded Albert Costa to accommodate Andre Agassi’s predilections.

The setting was center court and at night, both suitable for Agassi’s showman tendencies. Thanks to Melbourne’s famously fickle weather--in the form of an early evening rain squall--the court’s roof was cranked closed and converted a slow, outdoor hardcourt match into a fast-paced and crisp indoor contest.

Under the circumstances, Agassi could do no less than prevail over his higher-ranked opponent. Agassi, ranked No. 87, won, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, and stubbornly advanced to the third round.

Never mind Agassi’s 54 unforced errors--a byproduct of his insistence on swinging for the lines. Never mind a set and a half of allowing Costa to dictate all aspects of the proceedings. And never mind a dismal 36% conversion rate of precious break points.

Agassi won, and style points will have to come in different forms for the chronically revamped 27-year-old. His don’t-call-it-a-comeback is moving apace, but in truth Agassi’s performances have been long on verve and drama and shorter on content, but that’s been his career.

If nothing else, Agassi could have a sizable role as a spoiler here. He next plays Italian Andrea Gaudenzi, whom he has never lost to in three matches.

The tournament’s next big-time match could be Agassi against second-seeded Patrick Rafter in the fourth round. But Rafter has to get past Alberto Berasategui for it to happen.

The players’ career trajectories have crossed at crucial intersections. At the 1995 Australian Open, Agassi was at the height of his cult status. For a coveted night match on center court, the Australians offered up their young teen idol, the relatively obscure Rafter.

The evening was all about teenaged girls pledging undying love and national chest pounding. Agassi, however, handed Rafter a memorable beating. Agassi went beyond that fourth-round match to defeat Pete Sampras and win his third Grand Slam tournament title.

Agassi and Rafter were destined to meet in the fourth round of another Grand Slam event: Last summer’s U.S. Open.

The fortunes of the two players had shifted mightily. Now it was the shaggy-haired Rafter who held the sex-symbol status and the anointed ranking. Agassi was a pudgy, balding, unseeded underdog. Yet with his unerring sense of the occasion, Agassi nearly upset Rafter. It took four grueling sets for Rafter to defeat Agassi. Rafter went beyond that fourth-round match to win his first Grand Slam tournament title.

Now comes another fourth-round meeting. Agassi is still far from the form that brought him the title three years ago, but Rafter is vulnerable.

Rafter has been working too hard to win his matches and has been on court too long to be fresh. In his first two rounds, Rafter has played nine sets and 6 hours 59 minutes of tennis. By comparison, top-seeded Pete Sampras has played six sets in 2 hours 50 minutes.

Rafter’s serve-and-volley game requires much of him physically. As the week has progressed and the weather has moved from unseasonably cool to Thursday’s mid-90s, Rafter has suffered--he’s one of the sport’s most prodigious sweaters.

“There’s a couple of guys that sweat heavily, and I guess I’m one of them,” said Rafter, referred to as Pat the Puddle in local newspapers.

If, as projected, the temperatures continue to rise, the question for Rafter may cease to be, “Does he have what it takes to win?” but rather, “Does he have enough fluids?”

Rafter is candid about his condition.

“I’m in a bit of trouble at the moment,” he said after his second-round match on Thursday. “Halfway through the second [set], I was hating life, I was hating the sun, I was just hating the whole situation, hating getting my butt kicked.

“The court was bloody hot today. I was feeling it in the bottom of my soles halfway through the match and I thought, ‘I’m on fire.’ You can’t keep going though like this. I don’t think I’m that super-fit sort of person that can get through it like that. I don’t think I’m that caliber of fitness, so I guess it would probably diminish my chances.”

Additionally, Rafter is beset by myriad nagging physical ailments--a sore hip, a bruised foot, a dodgy back and a persistent problem with muscle cramping.

Agassi reports no problems and from a fitness standpoint is as sharp as ever. Playing a baseliner like Costa helped Agassi’s timing in a way that reacting to a serve and volleyer would not.

Rafter’s serve and volley style would pose a problem for Agassi if he’s not sharp. Likewise, Agassi’s ability to run an opponent around the court could exacerbate Rafter’s fatigue problem.