Agassi survives in the first round

New York – Andre Agassi pushed his 36-year-old body all around the Arthur Ashe Stadium for three hours and thirty minutes before he succeeded in knocking down his opponent, Andrei Pavel of Romania 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (6), 6-2 to win the first match of his final tournament.

The match continued for long and there were moments when it seemed that Agassi was about to bid adieu. He lost the first set and took the second set tiebreaker 10-8 before going down 4-0 in the third. “I thought,” said Pavel, “I have him.”

After that Agassi went on to reverse things. He seemed to have all the energy and the shots. Agassi got to a third tie-breaker, which he won by 8-6 and then sailed on to dominate the final set.

32-year-old Pavel, ranked 75th in the world was visited by a trainer during the match as he had a sudden attack of stomach cramps and diarrhea. He had lost five of the six previous matches against the American.

The Arthur Ashe Stadium had a record night-session crowd of 23,736 cheering for the Eight-time grand slam winner Agassi, who announced at Wimbledon that he would retire after the Open. Once the play began, the demanding cries of "Let's go, Ahhn-dray!" roared through the stadium.

Pavel was obviously aware of Andre’s popularity. He said, “I hope there are going to be five or six people cheering for me.” Most of the spectators were on their feet when Andre served out the final-point after midnight.

During the match Agassi fired 17 aces up to 125mph. “He's still one of the fittest guys on tour. He's amazing.” Pavel said. “He's the man right now. I wish him well. I hope he can go all the way. He deserves it.”

Agassi will face eigth-seeded, Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the next match. The two have never played before. "I practiced with him once," Agassi said. "Such a talent. One of those guys you'd pay to go watch. He does a lot of good things out there. Moves well. Can really slap the forehand. I'll have to play real well. He's playing some of the best tennis this year.

Andre Agassi is one of the finest players of the game and when he'll shoulder his racket bag after his final match at the U.S. Open, he will formally end an era in American men's tennis that may be impossible to replicate.