Andre Agassi upped his tempo, evened an old score and advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open, beating Thomas Enqvist 6-0, 6-3, 6-3 Friday
Agassi has won 24 consecutive matches at Melbourne Park, spanning championships in 2000, 2001 and 2003, and improved to 5-5 lifetime against Enqvist.
"I was really hitting the ball well, wasn't making a lot of errors and was running down a lot of his shots," said Agassi. "I executed everything I wanted to -- everything felt real good from my side."
He wrapped up the first set in 21 minutes with a second-service ace. In a decisive fifth game in the third, Enqvist had three break-point chances but failed to convert.
Agassi held when he got the benefit of an over-rule from chair umpire Gerry Armstrong, who judged that Enqvist's forehand was out.
Enqvist complained about the call, saying Armstrong "would never have done that" if it wasn't Agassi at the other end.
Unsettled, the Swede dropped serve to fall behind 4-2 and lost his last chance to get back into the match.
Agassi's next opponent is 13th-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, who hit 49 winners to beat 19th-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
Paradorn beat Agassi at Wimbledon in the second round in 2002.
"That day he was too good for me," said Agassi. "My hope is to go out there the day after tomorrow and let him know I can play better than that."
In women's play, top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne rallied from a break down in the second set to beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 7-5.
Henin-Hardenne, the defending Wimbledon and the US Open champion, was broken twice in the second set and trailed 5-3 before breaking back and taking advantage of unforced errors by the 18-year-old Kuznetsova to win four consecutive games and the match.
"It's great to have this kind of match in the third round. I had to keep fighting to the end," Henin-Hardenne said.
Henin-Hardenne said the tough second set showed her she needed to be more aggressive in dictating points,
"I don't see myself as the biggest favorite of this tournament," she said.
Marat Safin used a string of powerful backhand returns in the last set to beat Todd Martin 7-5, 1-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 and move into a fourth-round match against James Blake.
The 3-hour, 25-minute match ended when the 23-year-old Russian whipped a crosscourt return at Martin's feet on his first match point.
Safin was demonstrative in the second and third sets as he muttered to himself, slammed his racket into the court and received a code violation for smacking a ball out of the arena.
He settled down in the fourth set, however, while Martin began disputing line calls.
Safin, the 2000 US Open champion and runner-up here in 2002, saw his ranking slump to No. 86 as he struggled with wrist problems last season.
"I felt really good this morning and felt really good out there -- I'm reaching my goal, but really looking forward to getting better and getting through to the quarters," he said.
Blake needed just 75 minutes to beat France's Olivier Patience 6-1, 6-3, 6-2, conceding only one break point as he dropped serve when trying to close the match at 5-0 in the third set.
Otherwise, he was on his game, hitting 41 winners to Patience's 12 and winning 25 of the 30 times he went to the net. He gave Patience only one break-point opportunity.
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