Gambill’s Star Rises In West Upset Victory Over Courier Puts Colbert Tennis Player In Quarterfinals

One is a star in the making, the other a star bent on renovating.

They cannot go on meeting like this, but here they are, together again, a couple of upset artists with little in common except their tendency to turn up in tournament quarterfinals on opposite sides of the net.

Andre Agassi, that household name from way back when, and Jan-Michael Gambill, the 20-year-old two-hander from Colbert, who figures to become a household name if he maintains the breakthrough pace he has set this year, carved out a pair of upsets Thursday at the Newsweek Champions Cup that guaranteed them their third quarterfinal meeting for 1998.

Agassi, 27, hot on the trail of a top-10 ranking after a diet of humble pie in 1997, continued to re-establish himself as a beater of last year’s world-beaters. Already victorious against Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras last month in San Jose, Agassi did a demolition job Thursday on the reigning U.S. Open champion, Patrick Rafter.

With a dangerous combination of baseline brutality and hard-nosed deliveries from the service line, Agassi, ranked 40th but on a roll, yanked the Australian to and fro like a yo-yo during a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 upset.

“He upped his intensity and I didn’t go with him,” said Rafter, who tumbled into a 4-0 hole in the third set when his serve and volley proved no match for Agassi’s mean ground strokes and meaner lobs.

He now faces the 126th-ranked Gambill, whom he defeated though not so easily in the quarterfinals at San Jose and at Scottsdale, Ariz., last month.

Thursday, Gambill extended his debut at this event - the most significant tournament he has ever played and one he gained access to as a wild card after Boris Becker dropped out - by defeating Jim Courier, 6-2, 6-4.

“I’m just kind of riding the wave,” said Gambill, who has had to fend off teenage girls and equally persistent prospective agents here to concentrate on an ever-evolving and thoroughly unorthodox game that includes a one-handed forehand to go with the two-fisted forehand and backhand he has wielded since he was 6.

Pete Sampras, No. 1 in the world, looked out of synch as he lost 7-5, 6-3 to Thomas Muster in a late match. The loss was only Sampras’ second in 11 career matches against the Austrian clay court specialist.

Another third-round winner was Petr Korda, the Australian Open champion and No. 2 seed in the Champions Cup, who beat Tommy Haas 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.

Also, Marcelo Rios downed Nicolas Kiefer 6-4, 6-3, and Greg Rusedski beat Carlos Moya 6-3, 7-5.

In the women’s half of the tournament - the Evert Cup - Steffi Graf hit a snag in her comeback. Graf, playing Lindsay Davenport on even terms, had to quit after she strained her left hamstring in the sixth game of the third set. That gave Davenport a 6-4, 4-6, 4-2 win.

The tournament was the second for Graf since surgery on her left knee nine months ago.

“Hopefully it’s going to be a quick recovery and it’s not too severe,” Graf said.

MEMO: Changed from Idaho edition.

This sidebar appeared with the story: HELLO AGAIN Gambill next plays Agassi for the third time this year.