Lindsay Davenport reached the quarterfinals of the United States Open in straight sets on Monday, while eighth-seeded Guillermo Coria needed more than four-and-a-half hours to subdue Chile’s Nicolas Massu in the longest match of the tournament.
The second-seeded Davenport took 57 minutes to dispatch 15th-seeded Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy, 6-0, 6-3, while Massu needed to rally to beat Massu, 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2 in a match that saw the two exchange words in the final set.
Number seven Andre Agassi also advanced, beating back Belgium’s Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-2 to become the first man over 35 to reach the quarterfinals at the US Open in 14 years.
Other featured matches on Monday, the American Labour Day holiday, included number seven Justine Henin-Hardenne against Mary Pierce in a night match that was a replay of the French Open final.
Davenport — who next plays number six Elena Dementieva — last year’s runner-up who beat number 11 Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-3 — hasn’t lost a set since the tournament began, hasn’t had a match last longer than 71 minutes and has lost only 18 games in four rounds.
”Today was the best match I’ve played since Wimbledon,” Davenport said. ”It’s the kind of tennis I want to play.”
Davenport, who won the US Open in 1998, made only eight unforced errors in reaching the quarterfinals for the 11th time in 12 events this season. She is seeking her third final this year in a grand slam.
”I want to win this title again,” Davenport said. ”I think that you are really, at the end of the day, judged on how many grand-slam titles you have.”
Coria required four hours and 32 minutes to prevail over Massu, breaking the Chilean twice in the final set. He celebrated by thrusting his arms upward, bending to one knee and putting a finger in the air to resemble Chilean and former River Plate striker Marcelo Salas, and hopping the net to shake Massu’s hand.
The handshake appeared more like a hand slap after the two exchanged words during the changeover following the third game of the final set.
Coria gestured at Massu from his chair, causing the Chilean to walk toward him. An official stepped between them, Massu did not encroach past the umpire’s chair and eventually sat down while Coria continued to speak to him.
”There were no words exchanged,” Coria said. ”I had an injury with three of my toenails, he implied that I was faking it, and I told him to mind his own business. In four-and-a-half hours, that was it. There were no bad words.”
Coria broke Massu in the next game to go up 3-1 and broke him again in the final game.
The victory sent him to a quarterfinal meeting against either number 13 Richard Gasquet of France or Robby Ginepri, who met later in the day.
Agassi was two points from a straight-sets win, lost the third-set tiebreak and then ”appeared like the wheels were starting to come off a little bit”, he said.
”I kept my head down and kept wanting to make him earn it,” Agassi said. ”In the third and fourth set, I felt I was a bit living on the edge with my serve. But then in the fifth, I settled down a little bit on my service games and put enough pressure on him to get that break.”
With the crowd chanting his name, Agassi broke Malisse in the sixth game of the final set and then stunned the Belgian with three aces in a row to lead 5-2. He grabbed two quick points on Malisse’s serve and then capped the afternoon on double-match point.
”It felt great,” said Agassi, who is playing in his 20th straight US Open. ”It means a lot more than the 19th and a lot less than the 21st.”
Agassi is the first player over 25 to get this far since Jimmy Connors made his run to the semifinals as a 39-year-old in 1991. — Sapa-AP