June 29, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 28,1424

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LONDON, June 28: Andre Agassi had to dig deep to reach the second week at Wimbledon on Saturday as Russia’s new generation of women stars took the All England Club by storm.

Agassi was given a severe centre court examination by Morocco’s Younes El Aynaoui, a fellow member of the small club of fathers on the men’s tour.

But after three and a half hours, the world number one finally prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), surviving three set points in the 12th game of the fourth set which would have sent the match into a gruelling fifth set.

Afterwards Agassi underlined that he had gone into the match with a crucial advantage over his father-of-three opponent.

“There are not too many guys I play who get less sleep than I do and Younes is one of those guys,” joked the American, who has a 20-month-old son, Jaden Gil, with his wife Steffi Graf.

Agassi now faces an intriguing fourth round clash with Australia’s Mark Philippoussis, who is enjoying a new lease of life after finally putting the injury problems which have dogged his career behind him.

Philippoussis, whose pounding serves earned him the nickname Scud, went through at the expense of the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).

Five of the 16 players left in the women’s singles hail from Russia and there is no doubting which of them is generating the most excitement.

Maria Sharapova was already the darling of the Wimbledon photographers, but on Saturday she displayed a ruthless streak to match her killer looks as she swept aside Jelena Dokic, the 11th seed, 6-4, 6-4.

After setting up a fourth round clash against fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sharapova gave the world’s media a glimpse of the competitive drive that has carried her so far, so young.

“When I come into a tournament I am expecting to win, that is my philosophy,” said the 16-year-old.

“I cannot go to a tournament thinking I am going to get my ass kicked today, so I might as well leave.

“Yes I am surprised to be here but I always knew one day it would come and all the hard work would pay off. This is reality.

“When I stepped out on Court One today, I was just like ‘I’m not going to give her a chance.’ I want to be a winner, today on this court, right now.”

Sharapova was joined in the fourth round by top seed and defending champion Serena Williams, who eased past compatriot and 28th seed Laura Granville 6-3, 6-1 with what she said was her best performance so far.

“Definitely, if I’d played like I did in the first two rounds it would have been a lot closer today,” the world number one said.

Williams will now face Russian number one Elena Dementieva, who ended the challenge of Hungarian qualifier Aniko Kapros.

The surviving Russian contingent is made up of Kuznetsova and Anastasia Myskina, both of whom went through on Saturday, and Vera Zvonareva, who will face Venus Villiams.

Sharapova, who left Russia at the age of nine to hone her skills in the United States, had no doubt about the reason why so many Russian girls have emerged in recent years.

“They work that extra hour at the end of the day. If someone has a talent they know that they can achieve it by working hard,” she said.

Germany’s Alexander Popp gave British fans a glimmer of consolation for their players’ dismal Wimbledon showing when he eliminated 11th seed Jiri Novak.

Tim Henman may be the only true Brit left in either the men’s or women’s singles but Popp at least has a British mother and admits his affinity with the country may have contributed to his success here.

“I feel English a little because my mum is English and we speak English a little at home,” Popp, a quarter-finalist here in 2000, said after his 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over the experienced Czech.

“I feel at home when I’m here and I’ve always played well even in the smaller tournaments so there must be something in it.”

Meanwhile, US eight seed Jennifer Capriati beat Akiko Morigami of Japan 6-4, 6-4 in 1hr 25min to advance to a match with tenth seed Myskina.

Off court, security was again under the spotlight after a tabloid newspaper reporter bluffed his way into a job guarding top players including Serena Williams and her sister Venus, both of whom have attracted the attention of stalkers.

The breach of security came despite the introduction of unprecedented measures this year, including bag searches for every spectator.

A spokesman for Securicor, the company in charge of ensuring the tournament passes off without incident, promised a probe into what went wrong.

“We take any security breach very seriously and will conduct a thorough review of all our operations to ascertain how this person came to be employed this year,” he said.

Saturday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles::

Third round: 2-Andre Agassi (US) beat 27-Younes El Aynaoui (Morocco) 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4); Mark Philippoussis (Australia) beat 35-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 7-6 (8-6); Olivier Rochus (Belgium) beat 30-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-1; Alexander Popp (Germany) beat 11-Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

Women’s singles::

Third round: 8-Jennifer Capriati (US) beat Akiko Morigami (Japan) 6-4, 6-4; 3-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) beat Alicia Molik (Australia) 6-4, 6-4; 1-Serena Williams (US) beat 28-Laura Granville (US) 6-3, 6-1; Mary Pierce (France) beat 23-Lisa Raymond (US) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; 10-Anastasia Myskina (Russia) beat 18-Conchita Martinez (Spain) 6-3, 6-3; 33-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Emilie Loit (France) 6-1, 6-2; Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat 11-Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia) 6-4, 6-4; 15-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Aniko Kapros (Hungary) 6-3, 6-1.

Friday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles::

Third round: 4-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Mardy Fish (US) 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1; Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat Flavio Saretta (Brazil) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

—AFP/Reuters