Andre Agassi, who cruised through his first two matches without dropping a set, got his first tough test against Mark Philippoussis.The 32-year-old American rallied to beat Philippoussis 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 yesterday to reach the quarter-finals of the $6.2 million WTA and ATP Masters series tournament.After capturing the first set, Philippoussis, of Australia, was able to challenge Agassi consistently until Agassi took control halfway through the second set.The win bodes well for Agassi if Philipoussis’ string of losing to tournament finalists continues. The Australian lost to the eventual finalists at San Jose, Memphis and Scottsdale this year.Fourth seed Roger Federer, a finalist here last year, captured a 6-3, 6-2 win over Dutchman Sjeng Schalken to move into the quarter-finals against Albert Costa of Spain.The ninth-seeded Costa, the 2002 French Open champion, beat Guillermo Coria of Argentina 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 for a quarter-final slot.Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan moved into the quarter-finals without breaking a sweat when Chilean Marcelo Rios forfeited their match because of a lower back injury.Srichaphan was unaware that Rios was injured until he arrived at the stadium yesterday morning and saw the Chilean getting treatment on his back.Nicolas Escude had fifth seed Carlos Moya on the defensive in the fourth round match yesterday, having carved out a 3-1 lead in the first set and a 4-1 advantage in the second set. But the Frenchman eventually lost 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).Escude said he was thinking ahead to a possible easy quarter-final encounter against either Lee Hyung-Taik of South Korea or American Robby Ginepri. Ginepri beat Lee later in the day 6-3, 6-2.
