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By Jeff Agase

DAILY BRUIN STAFF

jagase@media.ucla.edu

Sure, the schedule for last night's Mercedes-Benz Cup listed the Andre Agassi-Gustavo Kuerten match as a quarterfinal. And yes, technically it was. But to an unknowing observer, Agassi's 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4 win over a resilient Kuerten looked like one of the best finals played in tennis all year. The marquee match-up between two tennis heavyweights landed so early in the 32-man tournament only because Kuerten has been recovering from hip surgery and has only a few results in 2002. Whatever Kuerten has been doing to get back into playing form paid beautiful dividends against Agassi. He showed no signs of hampered mobility and only faded near the end of the two-hour slugfest. "At the end, I was a little tired and no longer had my best strengths," Kuerten said. "I tried to fight until the end and enjoy the atmosphere." Meanwhile, Agassi was Agassi. Executing his return game with an almost disturbing level of perfection, the tournament's No. 2 seed rode a net cord and swinging volley to a tiebreak win in the first set. "It was a good match, in that there was a high standard straight from the beginning," Agassi said. Kuerten had been hanging with Agassi throughout the first set, but it remained to be seen if he could keep up physically and mentally in what he later called his biggest match of the year. When Kuerten's lethal one-handed backhand helped him break Agassi's serve and go up 1-0, fans knew they had something special on their hands. "The first game of the second set turned out to be a crucial game," Agassi said. "He hit some great shots and the next thing you know, I'm down a break." He would remain down a break until Kuerten broke him again to take the second set 6-3. That's when alternating chants of "Gu-ga!" and "A-ga-ssi!" started appearing between almost every pair of points. When a particularly bourgeois-looking woman was too distracted to take her seat, fans began yelling, "sit down!" to ensure that the flow of spectacular tennis continued undelayed. "This was as good a crowd as you could have ever hoped for," Agassi said. "You triple the size of that crowd, and you've got the U.S. Open. I thoroughly enjoy playing here." Kuerten went on a service rampage to begin the third set, winning 10 straight service points. But Agassi fired a few aces and service winners of his own and managed to tie it 3-3. The storm weathered, Agassi broke Kuerten's 10-point streak and his serve in the same game then held at love to take a 5-3 lead. Kuerten fought off two match points and struggled through seven deuces to pull within a game, only to lose the next game and the match. Even after the win, Agassi was thoroughly impressed - and perplexed - by Kuerten's backhand. "Guga has the best one-handed backhand in the game of tennis," he said. "There is not another backhand that you can even compare with his. The problem is that you want to play away from it, but you also have to play percentages. I can't say that I'm going to hit every shot without going to his backhand." Agassi will play towering Belarussian Max Mirnyi in the semifinals Saturday. Mirnyi was a 6-4, 7-6 (5) winner over Michael Llodra earlier Friday.