Tuned-up Agassi Finds Perfect Pitch

There is a price for perfection and in Andre Agassi's case it was the long and intense slog during December under the fierce eye of his trainer Gil Reyes. This physical torture does not guarantee flawlessness, but in his second-round match against South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik the 32-year-old American surely came as close as he ever has in a grand slam to complete mastery. His 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 victory was as good as it gets.

Well, almost. There was a blemish at the beginning when Lee, who had won the pre-Australian Open tournament in Sydney as a qualifier and was on a nine-match winning streak, held his opening service to love and immediately had three break points on the Agassi serve. Memories lurched back to last year's Wimbledon when Agassi was defeated in straight sets by Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in the second round.

A small frown played across Lee's brow, part concentration, part puzzlement. Surely it could not be this easy? The riposte was swift and terrible - 18 successive games of brilliance, and the deed was done. Tennis Australia is keen to promote this tournament as the Asian-Pacific Open. Make that the Agassi-Terrific.

"He hit a few winners at the start and I felt an immediate sense of urgency," said Agassi. "You hope you always play your best tennis in the best of situations, but my experience in grand slams is that you can never predict how it's going to unfold. I don't ever consider myself to be in a great position until the match is over with."

This was very special, the best of Agassi condensed into an hour and 20 minutes. He has always been a wonderfully clean hitter of a tennis ball, but here was something bordering on the magical. It was as if he had been promised by an outside force that every shot he made would never miss.

Agassi's one hope now will be that he has not left his best on the court. Nobody in the history of open tennis has won more convincingly at the Australian Open, but Agassi knows it will count for nothing in the next round against France's Nicolas Escudé. "Andre just took me to school," admitted Lee. Escudé will hope when he meets Agassi that school's out.

The first leading seed in the men's tournament fell yesterday with Spain's Carlos Moya, the No5 and beaten finalist here six years ago, going out 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 against Mardy Fish of the US. The former champion and No22 seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov also lost, beaten in five long sets by Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1.

In two other five-set matches the Netherlands' Sjeng Schalken, the No16 seed, lost to the highly promising 18-year-old Mario Ancic of Croatia, making an obscene gesture at the umpire who had overruled to give Ancic the match, and Srichaphan, the No11 seed, was defeated by Mark Philippoussis, who in three weeks' time seems certain to be part of Australia's team to play Britain in the Davis Cup world group first-round match.

Another possible team member, Wayne Arthurs, retired during his second-round match with a calf injury when two sets down to France's Fabrice Santoro.