Agassi shot down by the 'Scud'

Mark Philippoussis tonight reached his fourth Wimbledon quarter-final with an epic five-set victory over Andre Agassi.

Philippoussis came back from two sets to one down to beat the world number one 6-3 2-6 6-7 6-3 6-4 after more than three hours of superb tennis on Court One.

The unseeded Australian will now face Germany’s Alexander Popp in the last eight as he continues his remarkable comeback from a series of career-threatening injuries.

The 26-year-old needed three operations on his left knee in 14 months and was told he would not play again after the last of those surgeries.

Ironically, it was in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 1999 that he suffered the first serious injury to his knee, having to retire in the second set after taking the opener against Pete Sampras.

He had lost his last six matches in a row against second seed Agassi but looked in superb form from the outset as he created the first break points of the match at 0-40 on the American’s serve.

Agassi managed to scramble back to deuce and saved two more break points, but then uncharacteristically made two unforced errors, dumping a backhand into the net and another well beyond the baseline to give Philippoussis the break.

A double fault as he served for the set gave Agassi a brief glimmer of hope, but the Aussie took the next four points to take the set 6-3.

Philippoussis had dropped just four points on his serve during the first set but was surprisingly broken at the start of the second after Agassi had saved two break points in the opening game.

The 6ft 4in Australian missed an easy smash to be pegged back to deuce and, just as BBC commentator Pat Cash was saying he had never seen him miss such an overhead, he promptly missed another to find himself 2-0 behind.

Another break, courtesy of two double faults and two unforced errors, then gifted Agassi the set 6-2.

In the third set Agassi saved five break points in a riveting third game to keep his nose in front, while Philippoussis saved one break point with his 14th ace to level at 2-2.

Agassi briefly threatened to break serve and take the set in the 12th game when he reached 0-30 on Philippoussis’ serve, but the man nicknamed ‘Scud’ hammered down three aces to take his total to 22 and force a tie-break.

He also took the first point in the tie-break when he correctly guessed where Agassi would place a smash and hit a forehand winner, but the 33-year-old took the next five points in a row.

A lucky net cord helped Philippoussis save the first of four set points but there was nothing anyone could do to help him when Agassi whistled a forehand return winner past him to take the tie-break 7-4 for a two sets to one lead.

Agassi had won the pair’s only previous meeting on grass, in the quarter-finals here in 2000, in straight sets, but this was turning into a real classic and always seemed destined to go to a fifth and final set.

Agassi saved five break points, three of them with aces, before Philippoussis eventually made the breakthrough to race into a 3-0 lead.

The 1992 champion had the chance to break back and possibly avoid a decider but Philippoussis recovered from 0-40 down courtesy of his 31st and 32nd aces and served out for the set 6-3 with number 35.

Three more aces helped Philippoussis save two break points in the sixth game of the decider before he gained the crucial break of serve courtesy of a wild backhand from Agassi.

The 33-year-old refused to buckle and forced two more break points in the next game, but the Aussie’s huge serve got him out of trouble yet again.

And the former US Open runner-up held his nerve to serve out for the set and a memorable victory.