Agassi: Replay worth try
NEW YORK — At 34, Andre Agassi has seen a lot of things in tennis. And here’s one more that he’d like to add: instant replay.
Agassi moved into the fourth round of the U.S. Open, beating Jiri Novak 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 Saturday.
It was a quick match, though it lasted about a minute longer than Agassi expected.
On a match point, he hit a crosscourt shot that a linesmen ruled good. Agassi clutched his fist in triumph, but before he could celebrate too much, the chair umpire overruled the call and said it was out. A TV replay seemed to show the ball was wide.
Moments later, Agassi put it away for good. After the match, the two-time Open winner said he’d favor the use of instant replay.
“I don’t know scientifically how accurate the shot cam is that they use. But I got to believe it’s closer to perfect than linesmen trying to watch the ball,” he said. “I mean, I can’t see the ball out there sometimes, and I’ve watched the ball my whole life. There are times when I’m really unsure.”
Moving along
The Olympic jinx has already claimed a lot of players in the U.S. Open. Justine Henin-Hardenne, however, is doing just fine.
The Athens gold medalist and defending Open champion reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the fifth straight year, defeating Lisa Raymond 6-4, 6-3 Saturday.
Of the eight men’s and women’s semifinals at the Olympics, all but Henin-Hardenne and Amelie Mauresmo have already lost at the Open.
Along with the travel fatigue, the three-time Grand Slam winner has been slowed this year by a viral illness.
Not quite
This Russian teen named Anna fell just short of making the surprising rise from qualifying to the fourth round at the U.S. Open.
Anna Chakvetadze’s impressive run at Flushing Meadows ended Saturday with a 6-4, 6-2 loss to No. 29 Eleni Daniilidou of Greece.
Chakvetadze, 17, beat French Open champion Anastasia Myskina in straight sets in the second round, but she couldn’t produced another upset. The 185th-ranked Russian was trying to become just the second qualifier in Open history to get to the round of 16.
The only one? Anna Kournikova, who was just 15 and ranked 144th when she made it that far in 1996 before losing to eventual champion Steffi Graf.