Andre Agassi broke serve only once but played two nearly flawless tiebreakers Saturday to edge Younes El Aynaoui 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) in the third round at Wimbledon.
Agassi, trying at 33 to become the oldest Wimbledon champion in the Open era, will face another big server in the fourth round Monday -- Mark Philippoussis.
PHOTO: AFP
El Aynaoui hit 19 aces to keep every set close, and three times he was within one point of forcing a fifth set.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"So much does boil down to his serve," Agassi said. "It was so important today for me to take care of my own serve. So I felt very, very focused."
In women's play, surprising 16-year-old Maria Sharapova notched her biggest win yet at Wimbledon, upsetting 2000 semifinalist Jelena Dokic 6-4, 6-4.
Also advancing were three other Russians -- No. 10 Anatasia Myskina, No. 15 Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova -- to give their country five women in the final 16.
Defending champion Serena Williams, French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne and Jennifer Capriati won in straight sets.
Agassi erased three set points serving at 5-6, 0-40 in the fourth set, and he came up with clutch shots in both tiebreakers, including a forehand winner on his final swing to close the 3-hour, 13-minute match.
"Whenever he needed it most, he hit the corners, he hit the lines, he played his best tennis," three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker said.
El Aynaoui, seeded 27th, smiled as he congratulated Agassi at the net and offered a thumbs-up.
The No. 2-seeded Agassi lost serve only once and changed his usual tactics by occasionally playing serve and volley. He won 27 of 30 points at the net.
"I don't know what got into me there," Agassi said. "I probably won't do that again until about 2010."
The unseeded Philippoussis, a three-time quarterfinalist, fired 33 aces and defeated No. 35 Radek Stepanek 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (6). Agassi has beaten Philippoussis in six of their seven matches, including their only meeting on grass in the 2000 quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Sharapova, a 1.83m Russian playing in the tournament for the first time, won every game she served. She completed the victory over Dokic with her eighth ace, then gleefully dropped her racket and made a prayerful gesture to the sky.
By reaching the fourth round, Sharapova matched the best showing by a wild card in women's singles at Wimbledon. Three others have done it, most recently Samantha Smith of Britain in 1998.
"I'm very happy, and I'm very surprised," Sharapova said. "I'm very young, I'm 16, and I'm in the fourth round at Wimbledon. How odd is that? But I knew that one day it would come. I am surprised, but it's just reality."
Sharapova was born in Siberia and has lived in Florida since age 6. She draws criticism for the high-pitched grunts that sometimes accompany her shots, but in her first match on Court 1, there were few shrieks until the final points.
Her showing is reminiscent of the first appearance at Wimbledon by Dokic, who upset No. 1 Martina Hingis in the first round in 1999 and went on to the quarterfinals. Dokic was then 16.
"She just comes out and swings," Dokic said. ``She has nothing to lose.''
Sharapova, ranked 91st, lost her first five matches this year but has blossomed on grass. She reached the semifinal two weeks ago at Birmingham and has now beaten two seeded players at Wimbledon -- No. 11 Dokic and No. 21 Elena Bovina. Williams beat fellow American Laura Granville 6-3, 6-1 and will next play Dementieva. Henin-Hardenne, seeded third, beat Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-4.
Capriati, seeded eighth, requested treatment on her right shoulder by a trainer during the first set but still beat Akiko Morigami 6-4, 6-4.
"The shoulder is nothing serious," Capriati said. "I just had a little kink in there and wanted to get it out."
Myskina was a 6-3, 6-3 winner against 1994 champion Conchita Martinez, who was seeded 18th. Dementieva beat Aniko Kapros 6-3, 6-1. Kuznetsova, seeded 33rd, defeated Emilie Loit 6-1, 6-2.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Mary Pierce eliminated No. 23 Lisa Raymond 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Olivier Rochus reached the fourth round at a Grand Slam event for the first time by beating No. 30-seeded Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-1. Alexander Popp of Germany, a quarterfinalist in 2000, defeated No. 11 Jiri Novak 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3). Popp's mother is English, and the London media are eager to adopt him as British -- during Wimbledon, at least.
"Well, it's up to you," Popp said. "But obviously I've been playing for Germany the last 26 years, and it doesn't look like it's going to change."
The last Englishman to win Wimbledon was Fred Perry in 1936.
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