Sampras, Agassi move in for the dream showdown

Australian heart-throb Pat Rafter, perennial British hope Tim Henman and U.S. Open champion Marat Safin also posted predictable wins to reach the third round of the men’s event while defending champion Lindsay Davenport and Russian Anna Kournikova were among the women’s winners.

There were two major casualties on Wednesday in a tournament that has thrown up few surprises with Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero and Conchita Martinez, seeded fifth, both bowing out.

Ferrero, seeded ninth in the men’s draw, lost a see-sawing five-setter to local hero Andrew Ilie, who celebrated by tearing off his shirt and draping himself in the Australian flag after his 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 victory.

Martinez was beaten 5-7, 6-3, 8-6 by Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland in a sub-standard match that featured 141 unforced errors.

LAS VEGAS SHOWMAN: Coming from Las Vegas, Agassi is accustomed to seeing peoplefight for the limelight and he dominated Melbourne Park’s centre stage with a dazzling performance.

He won the first five games against Goldstein before taking the opening set in 23 minutes, then won 12 of the last 14 to set up a third round meeting with Germany’s David Prinosil.

‘‘You can only judge yourself based on the matches you’ve had and I like everything I did tonight,’’ Agassi said.

‘‘I like the way my game’s coming around.’’

With a record 13 Grand Slam titles under his belt, Sampras is a marked man and there is not a player on the circuit who doesn’t want to beat him.

Ulihrach is no exception. He broke Sampras’ serve no less than six times and pushed the 1994 and 1997 Australian champion all the way before the American emerged victorious after three hours.

Two times U.S. Open champion Rafter gave local fans a scare and was unhappy with the way he performed in his 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over strong young Russian Nikolay Davydenko. Henman was much happier, saying he had produced some of the best tennis he had ever played in Melbourne to fight off Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-1, 7-6, 7-6.