Agassi makes it look easy

TENNIS: It is taken for granted that Venus and Serena Williams will glide through the first week of a grand slam without ruffling a hair or disturbing their make-up, but the men's tour, short of personalities, sells itself on strength in depth. Anybody who has watched Andre Agassi's first three matches would be forced to the conclusion that the top men have it just as easy as the leading women.

To date Agassi, the number six seed, has conceded a mere 16 games over his three matches which have occupied him for just under four hours in total. Nice work. Clearly Agassi is playing well, and being spoken of as the champion-elect, but his career has been littered with false dawns.

And since winning the Australian Open in 2001, the last of his seven slam titles, he has made just one semi-final in five attempts at the four majors.

Nothing can ever be taken for granted concerning Agassi, who has maintained a level of fitness and enthusiasm for the game that befits someone 10 years younger. Nevertheless he will be 33 next year, and the candle is burning ever lower.

"It get tougher every year," said Agassi after his far from tough 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 third round win over Paraguay's Ramon Delgado. "It's partly because you're getting older, but guys are getting stronger, bigger, and faster. Every match is dangerous."

Generally Agassi does not find himself dwelling too much on the age gap between him and the up-and-coming generation. True, he has his wife Steffi Graf and their son Jaden watching him here, although it is in the player's lounge, where the youngsters on the circuit are playing video games or spending hours on the Internet, that Agassi truly feels his age.

America as a whole, and New York in particular, is waiting for the next generation of US tennis stars to strut their stuff, and push aside old man Agassi and Pete Sampras. The support for James Blake in his third round match against Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion, bordered on the frenzied, such was the desire of the crowd in the Arthur Ashe stadium to see a young American win.

But Hewitt, although pushed to five sets, as he had been by Blake last year, once again proved why he is the world's number one. "I think Ivan Lendl at his best had the most discipline in his concentration, and (Jimmy) Connors knew how to concentrate at the right time, but Hewitt is the most phenomenal competitor," said Agassi, who is seeded to play the Australian in the semi-finals.

"He has an all-round game that really has no weaknesses, but his speed is his greatest weapon, added to his shot selection which is very disciplined."

Hewitt, whose next opponent today is the Czech Jiri Novak, a top 20 player, behaved impeccably in his match against Blake. Last year his victory over the 22-year-old American had been chequered; Hewitt insinuating that a black linesman had foot-faulted him because he was biased in Blake's favour. "Look at him (the linesman) and look at him (Blake). You tell me what the similarity is," Hewitt had screamed at the umpire.

Rain again interrupted play yesterday for most of the day, delaying both the third round matches of Greg Rusedski against Pete Sampras, and Tim Henman against Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.