BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Andre Agassi can't reach a shot.
(AP photo)
| ZOOM |
|
MASON -- Tuesday, Andre Agassi said Vince Spadea's play hadn't impressed him. He said Spadea "should do more."
OK, Andre. How about beating you?
Spadea, a 24-year-old Agassi had dubbed "a classic journeyman," arrived Wednesday night. He stayed steady and let Agassi unravel late, upsetting the world's ninth-ranked player 6-2, 0-6, 7-6 (7-2) in the Great American Insurance ATP Championship's second round.
"I knew I had a lot of good tennis in me," Spadea said. "I wanted to prove what I could do."
Spadea hadn't won a set in three previous meetings with Agassi. Agassi entered Wednesday as the world's hottest player, having won 15 of his last 16 matches.
But it was Agassi's comments after their last match, at Key Biscayne, Fla., in March, that ignited a similar spark in Spadea. Agassi questioned Spadea's potential, and Spadea -- then ranked 64th -- took exception and vowed to reach the Top 20 within a year.
In May, he reached the first tournament final in his career (in St. Polten, Austria), and he has beaten three Top 10 players this summer to rise to his current No. 44 ranking. But Wednesday's win meant more than computer points.
"I did it, man, I did it! I'm on my way," he yelled immediately after the match.
He did it early, blitzing Agassi with blazing ground strokes in a 32-minute first set. But Agassi answered, winning the second set in 20 minutes.
Agassi strains to make a return.
(Steven M. Herppich photo)
| ZOOM |
|
Agassi reached break point on Spadea's serve in the third set's opening game, but Spadea rallied to hold serve.
"That game was crucial," Agassi said. "I felt like I was breaking him down, but he managed to regroup there."
They stayed on serve until 4-4, when Agassi broke Spadea. But serving for the match at 5-4, Agassi dug a quick 15-40 hole, then shanked a forehand long to lose the game.
"I just didn't deliver," Agassi said. "Then in a tiebreak, anything can happen, and I didn't play a really good breaker."
Understatement. Spadea began the breaker with a pretty passing shot, yet his 2-0 lead faded to a 2-2 tie. But with Agassi suddenly wild, Spadea needed just one more winner, a crushing backhand return of an Agassi serve. His other five points came on unforced errors by Agassi.
Agassi, who went 14-1 at the ATP Championship from 1993-96, has now lost two of his last three matches here.
Vince Spadea reached the round of 16 here last year.
(Steven M. Herppich photo)
| ZOOM |
|
"I said to myself, "Let's leave it all out there in the third (set),' " Spadea said.
So just who is this guy?
For starters, get the name right: It rhymes with "stadia." The Chicago native has spent five years on the tour, mostly on the cusp of the top 50. Just last year he was a qualifier here, winning two matches to reach the round of 16.
After losing Wednesday, Agassi backed off his criticism.
" "Journeyman' is not an insult," he said. "I don't know why everyone's so offended by that. It's nothing to speak to his potential. It just speaks for his results."
Those results are getting better. Yes, even Andre Agassi is now giving praise.
"He's playing better," Agassi said. "He's playing like I always expected he could."
ATP PAGE
