Cheers for Agassi~!

YEAH! Agassi got through! Ok ok, I'm getting excited already. From 12 noon I had been watching the dastardly match between Andre Agassi and Joachim Johansson. As usual, results and statistics are here.

The entire match lasted 2hrs 38 mins, and since I didn't want to miss anything, I sat down on my armchair and watched practically every second of it. I was very concerned cause this match would determine who would go on to meet Federer in the quarter-finals. Well in case you haven't guessed, I was rooting for Agassi haha. After all, he lost to Federer in 2004's Australian Open, so I was hoping he'd get through and attempt to have his revenge (even though it'll probably be deja vu :P)

Well, after watching 2/3 of Agassi's match with Dent previously, I was hoping to see Agassi take out another young upstart with powerful strokes and youthful ambition in the form of Johansson. I thought I'd get to see the same amazing play that Agassi had produced 2 days ago.

There was one little problem though, ok, make that a BIG problem. Johansson stands at 198cm tall, has crazy serves, insane forehands AND backhands. Ok, perhaps I'm blowing his trumpet a bit too loud, but my overall impression of him in this match was 'Tennis Terminator'. His previous marathon match with Feliciano Lopez proves that he has the athletic ability to go through long bouts. Honestly I was worried for Agassi.

First set, Agassi had broken Johansson's serve rather early on, only to have been broken back and even defeated in the set ending with a tiebreaker. It was the first of 3 sets which all ended in tiebreakers.

Unlike Dent, this guy simply established his territory mainly near the baseline region. Watching him rally was like seeing some artillery firing tennis balls, albeit at a much lower trajectory. So low that he frequently hit the net instead, which was a big part of his downfall. His long limbs also ensured that he could cover the court rather quickly, assuming he didn't get his legs in a tangle.

From the 2nd set onwards, Johansson was basically firing aces all the time. At his height, he seemed to have no problem aiming at the far corner of the service box, and had so many wide serves. Near the end, Agassi didn't even flinch when one of the balls flew past him, I think he just wanted to save the energy for his serves, since it was the last set and he had already broken Johansson's serve.

Now the thing about his aces weren't just about the speed, it was the placement which made them so deadly, many a times Agassi simply couldn't reach for the wide serves, and when Johansson felt that Agassi might be anticipating a lunge to the side, he'd serve down the line, making it a total guessing game when he was serving.

Poor Agassi, faced with an opponent who could send blazing forehands to either side of the court; he spent many a time running to return the ball, only to have Johansson pull off a not-so-low dropshot or smack the ball into the other corner.

Then again, this is Agassi I'm talking about. Agassi the fighter, not Agassi the KIA driver or Nike endorsee. Agassi's strategy seemed to be just letting Johansson expend as much energy as possible (boy, did Agassi make Johansson run left and right!) and hold out until the end. HIs instincts were quite right, probably due to his vast experience in tennis.

Johansson's serve speeds had decreased rather dramatically after the 1st set. Not to say they weren't dangerous, just that they weren't as lethal as before. Agassi also counted on Johansson to pull off unforced errors, of which there were 66! Well, he did have 51 aces for bragging rights. If he could cut down on his unforced errors, he'd definitely go very far.

Now I'm not sure whether I'm a jinx or just capable of judging his play. During the last set, almost everytime during a rally, after a certain number of returns I'd say 'unforced error' just as Johansson was swinging the racket, and sure enough, Johansson would send the ball flying into the net, or anywhere else except in Agassi's court. I noticed that Johansson couldn't keep up a proper rally with Agassi, he seemed to always be eager to fire a winner low and deep, and this contributed a lot to the 66 errors.

The match had a few entertaining moments too which I'll briefly describe.

1. Agassi lost balance in the first few games when stretching out to return a shot from Johansson, he promptly fell down and Johansson happily fired the returning ball to the other side, by which Agassi had only just gotten up. It looked as though Agassi was knocked to the ground by Johansson's 'mortar' hehe.

2. During play, Agassi hit a tennis ball which almost smacked the umpire. It narrowly missed him. I wonder what would happen if it did hit. Then again, I also wonder if it was Johansson who sent the ball flying, dunno whether it's even dodgeable or not...

3. Agassi in his closing speech said that it was rather difficult to play this guy, partly due to his big serves and stuff. Also the fact that every point was more or less ended pretty quickly, few long rallies were involved, and thus it was hard for Agassi to get into the rhythm. For me though, the funniest part has to be when the interviewer asked him something like "So, after all these tough matches, do you feel like you're ready to play Roger Federer?".

Damn, I loved his answer haha (Note, I'm not quoting the EXACT words spoken, I can't remember them all, with the exception of Agassi's one-of-a-kind answer)

Agassi (Deadpanning): "Who's Roger?"

Interviewer (Responds in understatement): "Oh, some young man who's been doing rather well the past year, won some tournaments and many people think he's really good."

Agassi: "And blah blah yada yada..."

An interview with the man can be found here, but it's a lot more than I saw on TV, and not entirely accurate. (I'm damn sure about the 'Who's Roger?' line hahaha, it had me laughing out real loud)

Lots of laughter and cheer could be heard haha, of course he was joking :D

Wah lau, if Agassi wasn't joking he's in BIG trouble I tell you. Imagine if Dent, Johansson and Federer decide to beat him up after the whole tourney...shucks

I saw two other matches in part and can't be bothered to comment too much. Here's a short description:

Serena Williams defeated Nadia Petrova. (YEAH! I can't stand Petrova, good riddance I say)

Maria Sharapova defeated Silvia Farina Elia. (Farina got beasted, as is usual, except for the fact that Maria lost the first set and gave rise to a doubting audience)

There ya go, I sure hope Meyer's got tennis booked soon for the coming week, I'm itching to play!!!