Colbert Tennis Sensation Stuns Agassi Gambill Hammers Out 16 Aces To Claim Quarterfinals Triumph

Jan-Michael Gambill, ranked 126th in the world and a wild-card entry into the Newsweek Champions Cup, ended Andre Agassi’s 13-match winning streak with a 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-3 victory Friday night.

It was the third quarterfinal meeting between the two in a month.

Agassi had beaten Colbert’s Gambill in the San Jose and Scottsdale, Ariz., tournaments.

In the State Farm Evert Cup, running concurrently with the men’s tournament at Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, Martina Hingis downed Venus Williams 6-0, 7-6 (9-7) to move into the finals.

Gambill, 20, who first played on the men’s tour in 1996, rode 18 aces to the victory over Agassi, who had just seven.

“He’s a good player; he’s definitely playing in the top-10 caliber,” Agassi said of Gambill. “This definitely is not my best tennis.

“I was disappointed to lose. I couldn’t close out my opportunities.”

Said Gambill: “I grew up watching Andre play. It feels great to play him tough and to win.”

The 27-year-old Agassi, coming back from a two-year slump, had won two titles this year before Gambill ended his string of match victories. Agassi’s recent play has moved him up to No. 40 in the world after he finished 1997 ranked 121st.

Other quarterfinals winners included Greg Rusedski, who ripped a men’s tour-record 146-mph serve in a 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 victory over Thomas Enqvist; Thomas Muster, who beat Andrei Medvedev 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 despite having a muscle pain shooting through his hip; and Marcelos Rios, who knocked off second seed and Australian Open champion Petr Korda 6-4, 6-2.

Rusedski, who hit a serve clocked at 143 mph in the U.S. Open last year, raised that record by 3 mph when he aced Enqvist to close out the first game of the second set.

Another Rusedski serve hit 144 mph later in the set. Enqvist returned that one, although Rusedski eventually won the point.

Asked the keys to his blazing serve, Rusedski smiled and said, “Toss the ball up high, hit it and don’t really think about it. … If I thought about it, I think I’d be having trouble with it.”

In the women’s tournament, Hingis avenged a loss to Williams at Sydney earlier this year.

Williams sprayed shots wildly in the first set of their rematch. After winning the set in 20 minutes, Hingis began making some mistakes of her own in the second and Williams settled down, ending several long rallies with blasts down the line.

At 7-7 in the tiebreaker, Williams made two more mistakes that cost her the set and match, hitting a forehand into the net, then hitting a backhand long. She finished with 46 unforced errors.

In the matchup of 17-year-olds, Hingis made just 19 unforced errors.

The earlier 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 loss to Williams is one of only two defeats this year for the top-ranked Hingis, who won the Australian Open.

Told that Williams, responding to a question after the match, said she still believed that she and her sister, Serena, would someday be ranked first and second in the world, Hingis said, “She said it again? Nothing new anymore.

“Well, so far she’s not. I mean, one day probably if I’m not playing anymore.”

Hingis does respect Williams’ ability.

“If she’s going to continue to play like in the second set, there are not many players who could hold against that level she has,” Hingis said. “I think she’s going to be very dangerous if she’s going to play like that.”

And Williams respects Hingis’ determination to stay No. 1.

“She’s working really hard to make sure she maintains her position. She maintained it today against me. I’ll look at myself and find out what I’m doing wrong.

“Obviously, she’s very serious, so I have to get more serious in the future, take her example.”

Williams said her game plan against Hingis was to cut down on mistakes, a plan she obviously wasn’t able to execute in the first set.

“That’s no good,” she said. “I should have started fast, been really ready. But I just wasn’t able to do that.”

Hingis is 4-1 in matches against Williams, who is ranked 12th in the world, including a 6-0, 6-4 victory in the final of the U.S. Open in September.

Hingis’ other 1998 loss was to Lindsay Davenport in Tokyo last month. She also will have a chance to avenge that straight-set defeat when she faces defending champion Davenport - No. 2 in the world - in the Evert Cup final today.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Up next Gambill takes on Marcelos Rios of Chile today in the semifinals of the Newsweek Champions Cup.

Cut in Spokane edition