Agassi Shows Off Star Power

Andre Agassi did his lounge act Thursday night at the Mercedes-Benz Cup tennis tournament. He smiled at Brooke Shields, his estranged wife, who sat close to the court. Dennis Miller was jaunty with a sweater tied around his waist. And wasn’t that Pamela Lee swinging her blond hair up in one of the boxes?

That’s how it is with Agassi, the star magnet, and 7,132 people at the UCLA tennis center were loving every minute of Agassi’s captivating 6-2, 6-3 second-round victory over qualifier Eric Taino.

Against Taino, the 24-year-old from Jersey City, N.J., who is ranked 644th and whose total action this year had been nine matches in challenger-level tournaments, Agassi was comfortable enough to trade barbs with the crowd (he was teased about losing the Wimbledon final to Pete Sampras) and engage in good-natured debates with the chair umpire.

In other second-round matches, No. 7-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, the skinny 18-year-old from Australia, won in a breeze, 6-3, 6-1, over Axel Pretzsch of Germany and earned himself a quarterfinal berth tonight against Agassi.

And Andrew Ilie, another Australian, knocked out No. 6-seeded Goran Ivanisevic, 6-4, 6-4. This was the first time Ilie had beaten Ivanisevic and it increased to three the number of Australians who will be in today’s quarterfinals.

Qualifier James Sekulov, a wide-eyed unknown, will play Michael Chang.

Thursday’s first match between Magnus Larsson and Anthony Dupuis never got played. Larsson, a 29-year-old from Sweden, withdrew before the match, citing tendinitis in both forearms.

The benefactor of the powerless Larsson’s weak arms was the 26-year-old veteran Dupuis. The Frenchman, who plays Ilie in the quarterfinals, has never made it this far in an ATP event. In fact, Dupuis has won on the ATP Tour only three times in his career--all here.

But all this was warmup for Agassi.

At a time of the long season when many players complain of aches, pains and motivational lassitude, the 29-year-old Agassi is as perky as a puppy.

“I attribute that to checking out for years at a time,” Agassi said, not totally kidding and referring to his penchant for taking, um, sabbaticals, during several periods of his 13-year pro career.

Agassi comes here having won the French Open for the first time and getting to the Wimbledon finals where he lost to Sampras. The French Open win gave Agassi one each of the four Grand Slam titles, an accomplishment that brings from Agassi a reverent pride.

“It’s an opportunity to separate yourself from so many great players,” he said after graciously escorting Taino off the court. “It’s still overwhelming for me to think about. It’s hard for me to believe because it’s a huge accomplishment in our sport.”

Sampras, by beating Agassi at Wimbledon, won his 12th career Grand Slam and tied Roy Emerson for most Slams in history, an accomplishment of historic magnitude as well.

But Sampras hasn’t won the French Open so, Agassi was asked, would he prefer to have one of each instead of 12? “Let me think about that. Yes,” Agassi said without a pause and with a smile.

Taino never really had a chance. Agassi was serving big (nine aces), volleying opportunistically and cracking his groundstrokes with imperious power and accuracy.

Against Hewitt tonight, Agassi gets a chance to even his record against an 18-year-old with emerging confidence and a certain crowd-pleasing way that reminds some of Agassi. As well, Hewitt owns a 1-0 career advantage over Agassi.

Which means only that Agassi is eager to hit the court.

“I’m interested to see his game again,” Agassi said. “It will be real good tennis.”

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Mercedes-Benz Cup at a Glance

STADIUM COURT

Matches begin at noon

* Anthony Dupuis vs. Andrew Ilie

* James Sekulov vs. Michael Chang

* Wayne Ferreira vs. Pete Sampras

Match begins at 7:30 p.m.

* Andre Agassi vs. Lleyton Hewitt