Andy Roddick unfurled his body and unleashed an ace that forced a line judge to duck as the ball slammed against the wall with a thud.
It was the loudest display the American produced on Sunday in a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Flavio Saretta of Brazil to reach the US Open’s fourth round. Roddick was the picture of calm, without a trace of the antics he used to pull — and which his prior opponent derided.
Instead, it was Saretta who clowned around, staring at a line when he thought a call was incorrect, kicking the ball, flipping his racket in the air or cracking it on the ground. The fourth-seeded Roddick was all business.
”I’ve been playing like that the past three months,” Roddick said. ”I just kind of realised I didn’t need to fight a mental battle every day.”
Andre Agassi doesn’t engage in antics these days, too concerned with saving every bit of energy and keeping track of each detail.
So Agassi wasn’t pleased about not being consulted when his third-round match against Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia was suspended for nearly 24 hours early in the second set on Saturday.
Not that it mattered in the end: The top-ranked Agassi wrapped up a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory Sunday to set up an old-versus-young meeting with fellow American Taylor Dent in the round of 16. Dent upset number 15 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile on Saturday.
”For the match to get called, and to be the only match that didn’t finish yesterday, I think was a mistake, an oversight in judgment,” the 33-year-old Agassi said.
Among his complaints: the Dent-Gonzalez match also should have been delayed a day so that the winner wouldn’t get more rest.
”It gets harder as you get older for a number of reasons,” Agassi said. ”Between your body and your mind, your heart the energy, the focus, the determination, the eagerness, the freshness — all those things get tougher.”
Agassi was down a break in the second set when the match resumed. He began Sunday by breaking right back, then held for a 2-1 lead with a backhand winner down the line that drew a thumbs-up of approval from two-time major champion Kafelnikov.
Agassi trailed again by a break later in the second set, but got it back in the 10th game, winning four straight points with the help of a crosscourt forehand return that caught a line. He again took four consecutive points in the tiebreaker, winning it when Kafelnikov sent a backhand long.
”He played just as good as he did four years ago, maybe even better,” said Kafelnikov, referring to the last time Agassi won the US Open. ”Normally, if you are getting older, you are becoming physically weaker. With him, it’s the opposite.”
Agassi, the oldest top-seeded man in the Open era, makes sure everything is exactly to his specification on court. He wants the umbrella held just so to block the sun, wants his towel in a certain spot, wants precisely the right ball to serve.
Roddick didn’t have to trouble himself too much with such minutiae.
The only man to reach two major semifinals in 2003 lost just three of 35 points during his service games over the first two sets on Sunday. He avoided a break point until the match’s very last game.
And he kept after Saretta’s backhand — the unseeded Brazilian made more than 20 unforced errors on that side.
Roddick knows more about his foe’s weaknesses thanks to strategic input from Brad Gilbert, his coach since a first-round exit at the French Open. Roddick is 33-2 since they teamed, and he credits Gilbert with making him calmer on court.
After losing to Roddick in the second round, Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia complained that the American is too demonstrative on court.
One wonders whether Ljubicic saw the end of number 22 Younes El Aynaoui’s 7-6 (1), 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over number 10 Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic.
As Novak’s backhand flew wide on match point, El Aynaoui tossed his racket in the air and dropped to his back. He rose, blew some kisses to the crowd, then hopped, skipped and jumped over a wall to hug his trainer. Next, the Moroccan pulled off his shirt and tossed it into the stands.
El Aynaoui set up a fourth-round match against number 7 Carlos Moya of Spain, who beat Nicolas Massu of Chile 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
In other action, number 13 David Nalbandian of Argentina beat number 20 Mark Philippoussis of Australia 7-5, 6-7 (10), 6-3, 6-2 in a match between the last two runners-up at Wimbledon. Philippoussis out-aced Nalbandian 34-5, but he wiped out that edge with 74 unforced errors to the Argentine’s 22.
Number 12 Sjeng Schalken of The Netherlands, a 2002 semifinalist, ended the run of qualifier Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3), and will meet number 8 Rainer Schuettler of Germany, runner-up to Agassi at the Australian Open in January. Schuettler beat Alberto Martin of Spain 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
The only past champion in the women’s field, third-seeded American Lindsay Davenport, advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating number 19 Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-0, 6-7 (6), 6-2.
Davenport will play number 24 Paola Suarez of Argentina, who got past Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. Number 5 Amelie Mauresmo made the final eight by beating Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-2, 6-2.
”As the match wore on, I got less aggressive,” Davenport said. ”I’m just happy to pull it out.” — Sapa-AP