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Agassi withstands barrage of aces to win
The serves came so hard, a blizzard of blinding shots, that even Andre Agassi didn't know where to stand. Agassi, an eight-time Grand Slam champion and master serve returner, was almost dumbfounded by the sheer, unrelenting power of Joachim Johansson's game. Somehow, Agassi weathered a record 51 aces by the 6-foot-6 Swede on Sunday to win 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) 6-4 and reach the quarterfinals.
"It's a phenomenal weapon he has," Agassi said. "Joachim was hitting the ball so big — what can you do but react?"
Agassi's reward for surviving this ace-athon is a showdown with top-ranked Roger Federer, who is on a career-best 25-match winning streak and hasn't lost since August. Federer's latest victory was far less complicated than Agassi's — a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) defeat of Cypriot qualifier Marcos Baghdatis.
The 34-year-old Agassi, seeking a fifth Australian title, was just getting his breath back after his fourth-round win over 11th-seeded Johansson when he was asked about Federer.
"Who's Roger?" he joked.
So the stadium announcer started reeling off Federer's resume: 14 consecutive wins in tour finals, a four-match streak against Agassi.
"Yada, yada, yada," was Agassi's quick response, playing to the crowd at Rod Laver Arena, before turning serious: "He's set a whole new standard."
Johansson certainly set the standard for aces, and doing it against the likes of Agassi was all the more remarkable. He overhauled Richard Krajicek's tour record of 49 aces that came in a quarterfinal loss to Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the 1999 U.S. Open.
Booming serves accounted for more than half of Johansson's 96 winners.
"There was a good 25 times out there where I felt like I knew where it was going, was leaning that way, and if I jumped and threw my racket, I probably wouldn't touch it," the eighth-seeded Agassi said. "That doesn't count all the other times where I was wrong."
Johansson slammed 14 aces in the first set, including one on a second serve at 135 mph on set point in the tiebreaker to open a 1-0 lead. Agassi didn't make any unforced errors in the first set, but there weren't too many extended rallies.
Agassi limited his unforced errors to 13 for the match and hit 35 winners.
"I was anxious the whole time," he said. "You go 20 minutes before you hit a normal rally shot backhand — it's tough to find your rhythm. I had to stay focused."
Agassi broke Johansson three times — once in the first set and twice in the fourth — and said the high-kicking bounce the 22-year-old Swede gets off his serve makes it one of the most dangerous.
"He's a great player — he's one of the best players of all time," Johansson said. "I mean, if he respects me, it's a good feeling for me. I couldn't have played better — I wanted to go all the way, but I can't be disappointed."
Agassi didn't care that his reputation as a returner might be eroded by Johansson's record.
"I'm not worried about embarrassment when I come out there and a guy can serve 51 aces — I'm surviving," he said. "What else am I going to do? I mean, all I can do is try not to be overwhelmed."
Federer, whose 11 titles in 2004 included three majors, has won 48 of 50 matches. The defending champion hasn't lost since the second round at the Athens Olympics. In the third set, Baghdatis broke Federer once and stunned him with brilliant crosscourt forehands. "I enjoyed the battle for sure," Federer said. Marat Safin, who lost to Federer in last year's Australian final, converted just one of his 18 break-point chances in a fiery 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) win over Olivier Rochus. He drew a code violation for spiking his racket into the court after wasting three break-point opportunities in the third set. After the caution from the umpire, he belted the broken racket three more times on a cooler, leaving marks on the plastic top. He closed with two aces, taking his total to 29 for the match. He next faces Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty, who beat the other Swedish Johannson in the draw — 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson — 7-5, 6-3, 6-1. Two of Russia's three major champions reached the quarterfinals — U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova. Kuznetsova pounded 29 winners to overcome one Russian — 6-4, 6-2 over Vera Douchevina — and faces another in the quarters. Sharapova, seeded fourth, will face Kuznetsova next after rallying past Italy's Silvia Farina Elia 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Sharapova, 17, applied bags of ice to cool off during the changeovers and appeared in trouble after opening the second set by dropping serve. But she ran off seven consecutive games and broke Farina Elia's last seven service games. "I know it's going to be another tough match," Sharapova said, referring to Kuznetsova. "I'm prepared. I'm just going to go out like I've been going out and playing my game, having fun, enjoying it and fighting to win." Seventh-seeded Serena Williams, who won the Australian Open in 2003 but didn't return last year because of a knee injury, beat No. 11 Nadia Petrova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo topped Evgenia Linetskaya 6-2, 6-4 in a mistake-prone match with 11 service breaks. The fallout from the spitting episode in Juan Ignacio Chela's loss to Lleyton Hewitt carried into Sunday, with Chela fined $2,000 by tournament referee Peter Bellenger for unsportsmanlike conduct.
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