Agassi storms back to topple Mathieu in five
Matthew Cronin
Monday, June 3, 2002

Down two sets before a brief rain shower took him and
young Frenchman Paul Henri Mathieu off the court for 20
minutes, No4 Andre Agassi came storming back and pulled
off a 4-6 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-3 on Monday to gain the
quarterfinals.

"It's not about confidence, it's about finding a way to
win or making somebody else play pretty darn well to
finish you off," Agassi said. "The great thing about
tennis is you can't run out the clock."

Like he did in '99 when he came back two sets down to
beat Andrei Medvedev in the final, Agassi appeared to
be completely out of the match but kept his chin down
and hung around. When it came to crunch time, the
32-year-old was the far more resourceful player.

The tall and powerful Mathieu came out firing, whipping
his huge groundstrokes past Agassi, thundering serves
into his body and displaying a tremendous amount of
athleticism. Agassi, the 1999 Roland Garros champ, looked
flat and uninspired. Not expending a tremendous amount of
energy trying to run down balls, the Las Vegan was
frequently late on his groundstrokes

A pumped up Mathieu won the first set after Agassi
committed a couple unforced errors and the 107th-ranked
Frenchman passed Agassi with a brilliant running forehand
down the line.

In the second set, Mathieu - the 2000 Roland Garros junior
champion - broke Agassi when the American double faulted
at 3-4. Agassi was able to fight off a set point with a
strong backhand crosscourt winner, but as the rain began
to fall harder, the 20-year-old Mathieu kicked a vicious
serve into Agassi's chest that the American couldn't handle.
The players then went off the court because of a rain delay.

"I was very surprised," said Agassi. "He hit the ball
incredibly big. He has a great flair for the game. I wasn't
expecting him to make so many quality shots....I certainly
dug a big hole for myself. A lot had to do with the way he
was playing."

Although he was broken immediately after taking in the third
set, it appeared that Agassi was given a good talking to in
the locker room by his coach, Darren Cahill.

"Down two sets and a break, the good news is that it can't
get any worse," Agassi said. "I just tried to make it a
better match by getting more depth on my shots, making him
play well to the end."

Agassi was more focused and directed, mixing up his serves
better, hitting with more depth and getting a better read on
Mathieu's serve. Agassi needed five break points to gain his
first break of serve at 2-2, but finally came up with the
goods with a backhand down the line.

"I wasn't returning that well and wasn't getting into points
as often as I needed to....[Darren and I] talked about a lot
of things but ultimately I needed to start moving my feet,
executing my shots and getting more depth," Agassi said.

Agassi then went on an amazing run, winning nine of the next
10 games with his typically brutal inside the baseline attack
and a number of soft drop shots, while Mathieu completely lost
his way. But ahead 5-0 in the fourth set, Agassi again began
to fall apart, failing to serve out the set twice. At 5-2, he
double faulted to the delight of the crowd and Mathieu regained
his enthusiasm.

However, a clearly nervous Mathieu couldn't hold serve in the
next game and Agassi won the set when Mathieu dumped a forehand
into the net.

But the Frenchman was clearly back in the match, and serving
at 1-1 in the fifth set Agassi went into a funk, double
faulting to give Mathieu a break point and then watching his
foe crush and inside out forehand winner to gain a 2-1 edge.

Mathieu had two break points at 3-1, but Agassi rammed an
overhead home and hit a forehand winner. Had Mathieu got the
second break, he may have been able to pull off a huge upset,
but Agassi seized the moment and truly raised the level of his
game, chasing down a number of Mathieu bullets, yanking his
opponent around the court and coming up with a number of creative
shots.

Agassi broke back to 3-3 when Mathieu missed a makeable backhand
crosscourt and it quickly went downhill from there for the Frenchman.

"I was wanting to take care of my own serve, find a way to win
this game. In my mind, I wanted him to have to serve it out
three times. That's where an opponent can feel the pressure
build. If they feel like you're about to let it slide, it
elevates their standard."

On the match's last point, Mathieu scalded a forehand at Agassi,
who three feet from the net, deftly blocked the ball back into the
court for a winner.

"Experience helped a lot," Agassi said. "It kept me from going
from not playing as well as I wanted to, to playing worse. That
can happen a lot. Experience helped me to get better."

Agassi will play No11 and two-time Roland Garros semifinalist Juan
Carlos Ferrero, whom he has never played before.

"He's made his statement here at the French for a few years in a
row," Agassi said. "I have a lot of respect for the power of his
game on this surface. It's time to play big time tennis now. There's
no getting around it at this stage."


 Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA  6  6  3  3  3
 vs.
 Andre Agassi USA        4  3  6  6  6


Match Facts:
 -Agassi served 11 aces and nine double faults.
 -Mathieu served seven aces and seven double faults.
 -Agassi converted seven of 13 break point opportunities.
 -Mathieu converted five of nine break point opportunities.
 -Agassi's fastest serve was 189 km/h.
 -Mathieu's fastest serve was 195 km/h.
 -Agassi's career win-loss record on clay is 137-48.
 -Mathieu's career win-loss record on clay is 6-5.
 -Including today's match, Agassi has won only five of his past 12
   matches against Frenchmen.
 -Mathieu lost in the first round here last year, to Lleyton Hewitt.