Agassi hunting second title

Andre Agassi kept alive his hopes of a second Wimbledon title with a hard-fought victory over Younes El Aynaoui.

Agassi was pushed all the way by Moroccan El Aynaoui before eventually securing a 5-7 6-4 7-6 7-6 victory on Centre Court.

The second seed will now face big-serving Australian Mark Philippoussis in the last 16 on Monday as he bids for his ninth Grand Slam title.

Agassi last won the title in 1992 and victory 11 years later would represent the longest gap between men’s singles titles in the history of the Championships.

The world number one is the second favourite for the title and had beaten El Aynaoui in all four of their previous meetings.

But the 27th seed thoroughly deserved to take the set 7-5 at the All England Club as he attempted to become the first Moroccan in the Open era to reach the last 16.

Agassi had to save two break points in the seventh game to keep his nose in front, but could not repeat the trick in the 11th, blasting a forehand long after El Aynaoui had somehow retrieved what had looked a certain winner.

The 31-year-old then served out for the set, finishing it with a 131mph first serve.

It was only the second set Agassi had lost in the Championships and the 33-year-old quickly set about getting back on level terms.

El Aynaoui saved one break point in the fourth game but the pressure on his serve was beginning to tell and Agassi finally achieved the break in the 10th game.

Two more excellent deep returns forced the Moroccan to dump two shots into the net and Agassi had the set 6-4 and levelled the match at one set all.

Agassi fired down three aces to hold serve at the start of the third set but had more trouble in the third game, partly thanks to a bad line call.

The 1992 champion felt a forehand from El Aynaoui was wide of the line, and was supported by television replays, but his complaints to the umpire were rather more polite than Greg Rusedski’s earlier in the week.

That may not have been the case if Agassi had failed to hold serve, but he staved off two break points to do so and kept his nose in front.

That was the only chance to break but the first three points of the tie-break went against serve, El Aynaoui this time disputing a line call but having the sense to do so in Spanish with umpire Javier Moreno to avoid any audible obscenities being picked up by the microphones.

Again the umpire refused to overrule and Agassi had a 2-1 lead.

The next seven points went with serve but another deep Agassi return set up the chance for a backhand winner down the line and the American was in front for the first time in the match.

The match was being played in a superb spirit, El Aynaoui accepting Agassi’s apology for a mishit forehand winner with a smile, and on the next point throwing his racket across the court at the ball after Agassi had somehow returned what looked a certain winner.

But the will to win was also fierce and El Aynaoui saved three break points in the ninth game which featured eight deuces, and forged three set points on Agassi’s serve.

Agassi saved one of them with an ace on a second serve and took the set to another tie-break.

Only one point went against serve in the tie-break, El Aynaoui netting a forehand and smashing his racket into the ground in frustration.

The new racket was only needed for two points however as Agassi served out to take the match.